Hail the King
by Beware of Starlight
Summary: 1926, Egypt. Yugis grandfather spend his life searching for games, adventure and the occasional treasure. But one day, he doesn't return from one if his trips , the only thing arriving home is an old papyrus, hidden in a metallic box. A map, leading towards Hamunaptra, the legendary city of the death, grave of Egypt's riches. But what s lurking there is far more dangerous than gold
1. Prologue

_Egypt, 1927_

He was running, barely registering where he set his feet, trusting in instinct and short term memory, despite knowing that inside this maze even one wrong step could be deadly. But turning around or stopping, even for just one moment to listen, to look, to think, would be his end. Because what was following him needed not a second to think. Far above him the sun was burning down on the desert, making it too hot to move. But even though there were only a few meters of sand between him and the surface, his hurried breath was turning into clouds, the air around him so cold as if it was night already. Cold and humid, almost icy. He should have known then, when he first felt it, that something wasn't right down here.

The man turned around the next corner, trying not to think about what lay beyond. The room with the altar, a golden ring on a chain, with the symbol of a pyramid and the Eye of Horus in its centre…and his colleagues body, falling down, blood running over the stone, his scream ending in small croaks and then…silence. No, he needed to shove it aside, needed to forget, to remember where to turn, and what lay ahead.

He needed to get out.

The room with the statues above the abyss lay behind him. If he was correct, it shouldn't be should be able to see daylight soon…and maybe that would mean safety. But he wasn't as fit as he used to be, aging despite his constant denials catching up to him. Every step hurt; he could hear his joints creaking, his muscles burning. Every breath felt like torture already, and he had only been running for a couple of minutes. But it felt like eternity, like he was barely moving at all.

Solomon Muto nearly stumbled on the next step, suddenly raising from the ground. Behind him, in the dark, he could hear something—laughter, mad and hissing and full of a dark delight. A hunter knowing his prey couldn't escape.

Sand was rushing up behind him, a miniature sandstorm far away from wind and surface, captured in cold stone tunnels. Like a rope it seemed to move, winding itself around Solomon's ankles, trying to capture him. It felt almost playful, teasing really, as if his hunter was playing with him. Maybe that was it, coupled with the laughter and the confidence of the hunter, which made Solomon angry enough to overpower the fear driving him onward. He was determined to not die down here, in this city of the dead. He had to return; he had promised that much.

With a desperate surge of strength Solomon tore himself away and stumbled forward into the forked path. One, leading deeper into this endless maze, and the other, ending into a final set of stairs.

Even from his position, Solomon could see the daylight streaming down from the door at the end of those stairs. Just a few steps separated him from it; he was nearly there. The nightmare was nearly over. He could leave, bolt the door, and try to hide and forget that he ever found his way into this cursed city. The desert sands would bury it again, and this time for good. There existed only one map, and he had lost it and the box holding it sometime during his mad flight. Nobody would ever find the way back, and he could return home to his grandson, and maybe—maybe he would actually be able to forget what happened.

Solomon had nearly reached the stair when a shadow appeared in the doorway. Long, pale hair, so white the light behind him lit it up like a halo, falling down on small shoulders, framing a shy face with black eyes, which mustered Solomon with an emotionless look. Solomon nearly stumbled over his own feet, and his eyes widened. His colleague's son, the boy had followed them inside the city and…

He opened his mouth, unsure whether to scream or ask for help, but he didn't get a chance to speak. Suddenly a grin, unnaturally wide, split the boy's face, dark delight gleaming in his eyes. He laid his hand on the heavy stone door and without the slightest strain slammed it shut, blocking Solomon's way to freedom. The last thing Solomon saw, apart from the boy's grin, was something golden hanging from a cord around his neck. Then there was nothing but darkness.

Solomon didn't get a chance to react. A roar filled the tunnel behind him, making him turn around to face what had been hunting him for so long. The small stream of sand trying to capture him before had turned into a full-fledged sandstorm. Limited by the narrow space of the tunnels, its contained shape was even more deadly than it would have been on the outside in the desert, all the power of the storm captured into one space.

Solomon got hit within seconds, with no way to flee. Coarse sand filled his lungs and eyes, and settled into every crook of his clothes. It felt like drowning on dry earth. He could barely breathe, barely even think. His grandson's face was the last thing that flashed in his mind, coupled with the realisation that this was it. There was no escape this time. The thought hurt worse than he had thought. He had promised Yugi he'd return with one more story about a great discovery and game. Well, he had lost this one; obviously played with a power he hadn't fully understood, and as punishment he would leave his grandson behind, wondering forever about what had happened to him. The tears inside his eyes weren't entirely from the pain of the sandstorm which seemed determined to tear him apart. Laughter—the same dark, hissing laughter of the tunnels—rang out through the roar of the storm, being as much a part of it as the sand. Solomon closed his eyes, only one thought in his mind: _Yugi, I'm sorry._

Then suddenly the laughter stopped, together with the storm. An angry hiss rang out in the disturbingly silent room, and the cold air grew warmer as Solomon slowly dared to open his eyes to see what had happened. For a place trying to kill him, this city seemed to come up with new ideas annoyingly often.

Around him the sand seemed to hang motionless in the air, as if frozen in spot. Only on the far corner of Solomon's vision it still moved, but this time it seemed almost pushed aside like an invisible shape was making its way through the storm. Something gleamed up in the dark, and where the invisible shape was stood something looking like a pair of red eyes, beckoning him. Then another glow appeared, golden like sunlight this time and so bright that Solomon had to close his eyes for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, the sandstorm and the shape visible inside it had disappeared just like the glowing eyes. The tunnel seemed a little bit brighter, warmer even.

Solomon blinked. His anxious breath, shaking with every gasp, sounded tortuously loud in the dark. It was the only thing he could hear; all around him there was only silence. He waited for a moment, listening for any further noises or sign of the hunter—even any movement in the tunnel—

But there was nothing. As if the hunter had simply disappeared.

Carefully and slowly he turned around, his eyes getting used to the dark again. He could see shapes and almost make out the walls around him, but…there really seemed to be nothing more in here with him. Just normal darkness. The hunter had truly disappeared. Carefully he took one step down the stairs, then another—and stopped suddenly. The sandstorm may have disappeared, but the sand at the end of the stairs formed a shape that had definitely not been here before. The Eye of Horus looked back up from the ground.

Solomon took another careful breath and tried with all his might not to think about what this sign could possible mean. What the hell had just happened? He stepped carefully around it on shaking legs. He walked back towards the crossroads of the tunnels, expecting with every step to be attacked and killed. Still nothing.

He stood in the middle of the crossing tunnels, unsure and weary. Fear and anger still coursed through him, but a growing sense of confusion manifested itself more and more. What had happened? He had no idea what was going on, or why his hunter had disappeared, and the boy…

He shook his head, tired, and even more afraid than before. The sudden silence and peacefulness of this place made him even more afraid than he had ever been during his mad flight through the underground city. But he couldn't solve this riddle now, and his goal still remained the same: stay alive and get out of here. And now this goal had become much more urgent. The boy was out there, and god knew what else was with him. He needed to find him, to find a way to make any of this right. Because whatever happened to him and his father, whatever they had let loose…. It was his fault. Him and his wild dream of a hidden city.

With a sigh Solomon squared his shoulders and walked on into the dark, taking the other passage this time. There had to be another way out of here. This place was a ruin; some hole had to lead to the surface.

Hours seemed to pass, though in truth it was probably less than an hour. The tunnels seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning, and Solomon was sure he had walked around in circles at least once. But the air was slowly turning warmer and drier with the taste of the desert. It filled him with a weary hope. It almost felt normal, safe, just the typical desert air again. Using this warmth as a guide, he managed to find a way out in the ceiling of a tunnel long collapsed. The fallen-down stones made a passable path, and with a little bit of effort, and the last of his strength, Solomon managed to climb out.

Outside he immediately collapsed into the desert sand. Hastily he gulped down the air, still warm, but with a hint of the cold night creeping in. On the horizon, just outside the city ruins, the sun was slowly beginning to set with a soft breeze dancing through the air. In this moment it was the most wonderful thing Solomon had ever seen. He closed his eyes, and a slow, disbelieving smile appeared on his lips. He had made it! He had escaped with his life, and now, sitting there in the evening breeze, it almost felt like what happened down there was nothing but a bad dream. Like it had never happened at all.

But it had happened, and no matter how much he might wish for, he couldn't just go home and forget about it. He had to find the boy and figure out what they had unleashed down there, and maybe even find a way to stop it.

He had to get moving; he couldn't stay here.

He opened his eyes, ready to get up, when a shot ringing out through the ruins froze him on the spot. Next to him the sand splashed up where the bullet found its mark, and with wide eyes Solomon looked down to the spot, and the slowly up into the barrel of a rifle pointing straight at his face. A pair of cold blue eyes, surprisingly young-looking, glared down at him, their owner hidden behind a dark cloak. And he was not alone. Others similarly dressed filtered through the ruins, both standing beside and sitting on camels. All of them watched him, motionless like statues, and bearing rifles pointed at him. They didn't really seem happy to see him.

So Solomon did the only thing he could. He slowly raised his arms in surrender.

A few meters away from the scene, a young boy with long white hair hid behind a half toppled column and watched the scene before him with narrowed eyes. _So the Medjay were still around…how annoying._ And that meant that one of his possible tools had just gotten rendered useless. The old man was as good as dead now. Oh well, there would always be another one. He had someone in mind already; the old man had talked a bit after all. And he had the perfect bait.

With a dark grin the boy looked down at his hand, fingers curled around a sealed iron box shimmering in the last rays of the sun.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

 _Cairo, one month later_

Some of those books must have been old, even when Mariette first founded the museum back in the 1850s. With a small smile Yugi picked up another load of them and started to climb the ladder, leaning on one of the massive bookshelves within the library. Dust whirled up when he put the book back in its right place, and he had to stifle a cough. He loved his work here, especially those calm, lazy afternoons when the dry heat of the day made even the air inside the building heavy. During those times, everything seemed to move in slow motion. But he could really do without the all this dust. Maybe somebody should take care of that once in a while.

He hid a grin, realising that the someone who should take care of that was probably himself. Admittedly, Miho, the other librarian of the museum, was also responsible, but really, even if they ever got started on cleaning, by the time they finished with all the books, the ones they dusted first would already be covered again. It was an endless task. Just like the people using the library and who seemed incapable of putting the books they used back by themselves.

He put another book back with a groan.

Sacred Stones… Sculpture and Aesthetics… It wasn't hard work, making it easy for his thoughts to drift off and away from the library; and towards the worries plaguing his mind for the past few days.

A month. It had been more than a month since he last heard from his grandfather, and to be honest, he was slowly growing worried. True, his grandfather could disappear for days on end, more and more now that Yugi was grown-up and could take care of himself, but he would always send news about how he was doing, about the things he found or didn't find, or when one of his trips went wrong. No matter how far off in the desert he was, no matter how bad the chances of communication were, he always found a way to bring news back. But not a single word had come this time, and Yugi's stomach was knotting itself in worry.

Maybe he should have gone with his grandfather this time. It was something he had dreamed about for a long time, and his grandfather probably would have been overjoyed to have him with him. But his grandfather had been even more mysterious than usual, refusing to tell him exactly where he was going—just that if he was right it would be the discovery of the century, on equal level with Carter's sensational discovery in the Valley of the Kings. And then the his grandfather had left. The Bembridge scholars had just announced that they were taking on applications for new members…

Solomon had to take this chance. Well, he had seen how this turned out…so now Yugi hadn't even an idea where his grandfather was, and his dream was again crumbling to dust…

Socrates… Seth Volume One… Seth Volume Two… Seth Volume Three… Thut…

With a confused frown Yugi stopped and glanced down at the book right in front of his nose again. No, he was right. It was a book about Thutmose. What it was doing in the middle of the books categorised under S he would never know. And this—this was exactly why visitors couldn't put their own books back. Something like this happened nearly every time. The library system wasn't even that complicated, really.

With a sigh Yugi grabbed the book from the shelf and looked around. Now, where did it belong again? Ah yes. He grinned up at the shelf opposite from him. It wasn't even that far away; he probably could reach the right place and save himself the way down the ladder and up again.

He stretched his hand, holding the book out as far as he could, and tried to reach the other shelf. Just a few more centimetres, he was nearly there… The ladder under his feet began to tremble, slowly at first, but then finally tipped towards the other shelf. Yugi stifled at surprised scream, somehow managing to balance on top of the ladder right between the two shelves like a street artist on stilts. The book tumbled down from his hand toward the ground, but that was the least of his worries right now.

Desperately he clung to the ladder, his trembling hands just making it wobble harder in turn; with his thoughts racing, Yugi tried to think of a way to get down unhurt. The ladder moved a few centimetres, on one side and the on the other, as if he was truly walking on it, and then gravity took effect, and it finally toppled over, right into the T shelves. Yugi could only scream, but that got buried in the rising cacophony.

From his point of view it happened very slowly, like pictures being snapped one after the other. In truth it was probably a work of seconds. His ladder hit the shelf, which slowly started to tremble itself and then, as if it had all the time in the world and as if every movement was too much effort, it toppled over itself. Books fell to the ground; maps and a couple of loose pages too. Some of the older books dropped to the ground, and then the next shelf fell, taking the next one with it and the next. Like a horrifying game of dominos, the shelves fell one by one, all around the room. Yugi, who had managed to dig himself out of the book pile, stood in the safety of the middle of the room. He could do nothing but watch, open mouthed and with growing dread, as they all fell. The last shelf hit the ground with a loud bang, books, pages and dust flying everywhere, and Yugi flinched at the sound.

Oh god…

He didn't have time to gather his thoughts for more than that. Fast steps rang out from the hallway; the sound of falling shelves must have been incredibly loud in the usually silent building, and thus quite impossible to not hear. Panicking, Yugi was already grabbing some books, as if he could actually have a chance at cleaning up even a bit of this mess, when the doors to the library flung open.

"Yugi! What happ…" Isis stopped right in the doorway, unable to finish her question. She seemed to be frozen on the spot, mouth slightly open. Her eyes were the only thing moving on her face, roaming over the fallen shelves, the books and papers strewn everywhere, and Yugi, standing right in the middle of the whole chaos, with a couple of more or less still intact books under his arm. Her mouth opened wider, as if she wanted to say something, and then closed again. It was the first time every Yugi had ever seen the curator of the museum left completely speechless before. Too bad that he had a growing feeling that he wouldn't live to tell the tale.

Isis was normally patient and calm. But her general politeness hide a backbone of pure steel. For an Egyptian woman to rise to such a high position was nearly unthinkable, and her position spoke volumes about both her talents and her ability to stand her ground. Yugi really liked her; normally the two of them got along very well, sharing a common love for ancient Egypt, and in Isis' case a kind of grudging respect for Yugi's grandfather. She and Solomon hadn't always seen things eye to eye, but they respected another. But Yugi had seldom seen her angry. It did happen though, and given the chaos he had wrought and the state of the books and the shelves… he probably would have a better chance if he begged Ammit herself for mercy. She might be more inclined to give it than Isis.

Isis stepped into the room, still moving so very slowly, as if she was walking through a dream. Yugi had barely dared to breathe since she had arrived, and the books in his hands were slowly turning heavy. But he didn't dare to let go—another few books falling to the ground was the last thing he needed.

A stifled noise came from the door, and Yugi could see—almost from the corner of his eyes, because he didn't dare to look away from Isis, who was still inspecting the wrecked room—Miho standing in the doorway, hands covering her mouth. She caught Yugi's eyes for a moment, and between the shock and dismay Yugi could see something akin to sympathy in her eyes. Next to her there was flash of gold as Joey glanced into the room, but he didn't even bother to enter it. Instead Joey took another step back, clearly preferring not to take his chances in the room. It wasn't like Yugi could fault him.

"Sons of the Pharaohs…" Isis spoke softly, so much that Yugi could barely hear here. It seemed like she was speaking to herself at first, but her voice got louder and louder with each word. "Give me frogs! Flies! Locusts! Anything but this!" She flew around, and the look with which she fixated Yugi now could easily burn through steel. "Yugi, compared to what you did now the other plagues must have been a joy!"

Well, he couldn't really argue with her about that, but still, it wasn't like what happened had been on purpose.

"I'm so sorry." Even as he spoke, trying to sound calm, he knew how weak this excuse sounded, even when he was absolutely serious. He couldn't really stop fidgeting. He grasped for the books, which nearly fell from his arms again, and tried to hold Isis' gaze. "It was an accident."

"Yugi?" Isis' voice, calm and completely void of any emotion made him flinch again. Oh yes, he was so dead now. "Do you remember when Ramses destroyed Syria?" Again, she sounded completely calm almost friendly, as if she was just making conversation. Too bad her eyes looked anything but calm. _"That_ was an accident." Her voice burned now, punctuating every word. _"You_ are a catastrophe! Look!"

She turned around again, arms wide, gesticulating at the books and shelves thrown around her. "Look at my library! I should fire you for that!"

Again, hard to disagree. What happened had been a catastrophe, and Yugi deserved every word he got and probably more.

But still.

"You won't fire me." The words were out before he even knew what he had said, and the look Isis shot him really should have killed him on spot.

"Oh yes?" Her voice was dripping with icy venom now. "And why?"

Yugi took a deep breath, knowing that each word could be his last. "W-well, because…" It took him a moment to find his voice again, but when the words came he could barely stop. "Be-because I can read and write Ancient Egyptian, and I can, I can decipher hieroglyphics and hieratic…"

He had learned that at the same time as he learned to read and write normally, maybe even earlier. His grandparents, who had raised him since birth, had both been in love with Ancient Egypt, and thus Yugi was one of the few, if not the only one in this day and age, who was fluent in Middle Egyptian and its written variations as his mother tongue. Speaking was a bit of a problem because nobody knew how it was spoken, but he thought he was passable at least.

"And because"—he was speaking faster now, more passionate, because this was the best argument he had—"because me and Miho are the only ones within a thousand miles radius who know how to properly code and catalogue this library, and for her to fix this mess alone would be an impossible task."

That was true for two people as well, but two was still better than one.

Yugi raised his head, looking straight at Isis, feeling actually proud of himself. He was good, he knew it. Ok, this whole mess was his fault, but he could fix it, damn it. Too bad Isis looked less than impressed.

"Or perhaps it is because your grandparents are some of our finest patrons, and losing their money would cost us more than we can afford?" Framed like a question it sounded even worse. "Allah may protect them." She bowed her head in a gesture of silent respect.

"And now!" Isis' head snapped up again, and the calm air of prayer vanished as soon as it came. "I don't care how long it takes, or if Miho actually helps you or not—you clean up this _meshiver!"_ And with these last words she turned around and stormed out of the room.

Yugi waited a moment before he dared to exhale a breath again. With a slight thud the books he had been holding onto tumbled through his fingers and onto the ground. Dismayed, Yugi glanced down towards them. Not that they would make any difference now, with everything else already on the floor… but it really was fitting. With a sigh he bowed down to collect them just as another pair of hands picked them up.

Miho smiled while standing up again. It was a weak smile, in face of all the loss and the work ahead of them, but it still lifted Yugi's spirits a bit. "That's quite a mess, isn't it? How did that happen?"

Yugi could barely get out a shrug, before a snort next to him interrupted him. Joey stood in the middle of the room, hands in the pockets of his trousers, and turned around, overlooking the seen. "A mess is the right word. And I thought I was the walking natural disaster around here."

With a smile Yugi looked towards his friend. Joey did have quite a track record when it came to accidents and disasters. So much that Isis had actually forbidden him to touch anything whenever he visited.

Yugi chuckled. "Maybe somebody else needed to challenge you for that title. It was getting quite calm around here."

Joey had been absent from the museum for the last couple of days. It wasn't anything unusual; he had a habit of disappearing once in a while. But Yugi still had missed him a bit. He needed his friends' constant cheer and optimism.

Yugi's smile diminished as he looked down at the books again. "But honestly, it was an accident. I was distracted, and didn't quite think about what I was doing, and…" He shrugged, not quite able to finish the sentence. He didn't need to because the moment he trailed off a small noise, like stone scrapping over the floor, resounded from the next room.

The three friends turned around, Miho stopping in the middle of picking up books, to listen. But no other noise followed.

"Is there somebody else here?" Joey's question sounded a bit unsure, and Yugi shook his head.

"No, not that I know off." The museum was closed for the afternoon; apart from him, Joey, Miho and Isis nobody else should have been here—and Isis had left the room in the other direction.

Carefully Yugi lowered the books he had picked up from the nearby table and walked towards the next room. The library lead directly into the museum, a tall, stone room decorated with columns and torches lining the halls and full off statues and sarcophagi. A part of the museum's great mummy collection was kept here.

Joey hung back—he rarely ventured into this part of the museum anyways. He wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the dead.

Yugi careful stepped into the room and looked around. "Hello? Mohammed? Abdul? Bob? Anybody here?" He could only think of a handful of people, all fellow employees of the museum, who could possibly be here now, and nobody answered him. Behind him, Miho and Joey followed him, Miho curiously turning her head, and Joey hunching his shoulders, throwing mistrustful glances towards the mummies laying in their sarcophagi.

It really was bad luck that he was the one who stood beside the stone sarcophagus.

A dried, skeletal hand shot out of the sarcophagus and tried to grab him. Joey's scream let the glass in the room vibrate, and Yugi and Miho nearly jumped out of their skin when they heard it. The snickering laughter following the scream, however, just elicited a weary sigh and a shared glance between them.

Oh, that again.

Still laughing, Tristan sat up in the sarcophagus, one arm still holding onto the mummy's arm, the other wrapped around the mummies shoulder in a brotherly gesture. He grinned up at Joey, who was still breathing heavily, one hand clutching at his chest and glaring at his best friend like he wanted to burn holes into him.

"I can't believe it. You are still falling for that!" Tristan's glee got cut short when Yugi appeared next to him, and tried to pry his arm from the mummy.

"Come on, Tristan, we talked about that. You can't keep scaring Joey like that." He threw a look behind his shoulder to Joey, who was still trying to calm down. "He might get a heart attack one day." That, and Tristan's actions were definitely damaging to the mummies, but Tristan had heard that so many times he probably wasn't going to care about that now.

With that said, Yugi turned towards Joey. "Hey, it's alright. We talked about that the last couple of times. The dead are not going to walk."

Joey just snorted, clearly not believing him one bit, which made Yugi smile a little. "Yeah, right. And all those curses are just decorations, right?"

Yugi sighed. "There never was a curse that actually killed someone. What happened with Tutankhamen was just hysterics." A good story, really, but since Howard Carter, the egyptologist who actually digged up the tomb and walked into it first, was still around to give snarky comments to anyone who tried to talk with him about a possible curse, Yugi was going to stick to his disbelief in curses. "Trust me; those mummies have been around here for years. If one was walking around, we would have noticed. Deadly curses don't exist."

Tristan choked out a laugh. "Save your breath, Yugi. If he still screams about that, even when I repeat this trick at least once a month, he ain't going to stop believing in living mummies any time soon."

Miho, who had finally stepped up towards them shook her head. "But really, why do you keep doing that? You could at least have some respect for the dead."

Tristan actually looked slightly guilty at that. Miho was one of the only people he actually listened too. Despite the fact that she had, quite politely, rejected him months ago, he was still harbouring a crush on her.

Joey, however, just shot her a sharp look. "Yeah, because they are so much more important than me. If he keeps that up, I'm going to join the dead and it's going to be his fault."

Tristan looked back at his friend, completely unimpressed. "And what happens next? Are you going to come back and haunt me? You'd be too scared about yourself to do much."

"What did you—I'll show you scared!" Joey stepped forward, ready to grab his friend, and Yugi decided that this was the moment to interrupt their own special brand of friendship before anything else got destroyed in the process.

"Stop it, both of you! Or do you want to help ruin my career?" Given what happened today he was doing a good enough job on that on his own; he didn't need any additional help.

Something in his voice, maybe the note of distress that had slipped in, actually got the two ruffians to stop. Joey took a step back from Tristan, who actually let go of the mummy's arm, and both of them looked at Yugi.

"Yugi, nobody is going to ruin your career." Joey sounded absolutely convinced, and Tristan nodded hastily.

"Yeah, you're too good. Nothing we two idiots can do could ruin that."

It sounded so honest that Yugi couldn't quite stop a small smile from appearing on his face. But it came out a lot more teary than expected, and with a sigh he let himself fall onto the base of the statue next to him. "You think so? I just made a terrible mess in the library, and and… the Bembridge scholars rejected my application again."

His smile turned a bit more desperate at that. Those constants rejections were really starting to hurt. "I don't have enough experience in the field, apparently." The couple of times he had been of with his grandfather didn't count, not for this calibre of an application. "And I haven't heard from Grandfather for a month, and maybe something happened to him and…" His voice trailed off, too exhausted and desperate to continue.

For a moment after he spoke, silence filled the room. Yugi kept his head bowed, trying with all his might not to let his desperation leak through. Today's events had been the cherry on top of the cake—a fitting end for this whole wasted month.

Suddenly, an arm wound itself over his shoulder, and Yugi blinked up to see Joey smiling at him. "Hey, don't listen to those stuck-up jerks. If those idiots don't want you on their team, that's their loss. You are fantastic at your job, small mistakes not counting." Yugi nearly interrupted him at this point because calling the destruction of the library a small mistake was a lie, even for a cheering-up message, but Joey continued already. "And you've always got us, you know?" He raised his arms in a wide gesture.

Yugi's lips twitched a bit upwards at this.

Joey saw that, and grinned even wider. "Also, I've got something quite interesting here. I'm sure that's going to cheer you up." He began digging through his pocket. "I would have shown you earlier, if someone"—he looked up to shoot a glare at Tristan, who still refused to look even slightly guilty—"hadn't stuck to his boring jokes. Here." He lifted his hand from his pocket, but still kept it close, so that Yugi couldn't see what was in it. "Looks like your grandfather did finally send you something."

Yugi's eyes widened, and he nearly bowled Joey over to get to the message. Really? His grandfather had finally sent something? Oh dear god, thank you! He had been so worried. Joey playfully raised his arm a bit, as if it to keep it out from Yugi's range, but almost immediately dropped the thing he had hidden into Yugi's hands.

"There you go. It arrived this morning by post. You must have just missed it when you left for work. But I'm not really sure what it is. Not really shaped like a letter, that's for sure."

Yugi nodded along, just barely registering Joey's words, or that Tristan and Miho bowed forward to catch a better look. He was too fixated on his grandfather's gift. It didn't really look like much—a small, octagonal box, about the size of his cupped hands and made out of bronze. It looked ancient and a bit worse for wear. It seemed almost familiar too, like Yugi was seeing an old friend. His heart was beating faster as he turned it over in his hands, fingers gliding over the serrated lines forming a star-like shape on top of the box and the hieroglyphs on its sides and bottom. That—that couldn't be…but his grandfather had said that he was going after something great, a sensational discovery…and if this box was what Yugi thought it was, if he read these hieroglyphs correctly, then Solomon hadn't exaggerated in the slightest. No, he probably understated the importance of his find.

Could it really be…?

"Ah, Yugi?" Tristan's question interrupted his thoughts, and Yugi blinked up owlishly at his friend, who shot him a glance halfway between curiosity and nervousness. "You're grinning at this piece of metal like it's the key to Eden or something, and that's getting a bit creepy now." He gulped. "I guess it's something important?"

Yugi's grin widened a bit more, which made Tristan shift away from him a bit more. "Oh yes, yes, I think it's something very important." He turned the box over again, glanced at it once more, and pressed the spring hidden behind one hieroglyph. The top of the box leapt open, the serrated pieces folding out into the shape of a blazing sun, and from the centre of the box Yugi plucked out a folded piece of papyrus.

For its age the papyrus was in good shape—a bit weak along the folding lines but almost perfectly conserved from damage and age. Yugi opened it carefully, and when he looked down at the lines drawn across it, his heart skipped a bit. Red, green and white streaks swept across the paper, forming the hieroglyphs for gods and the Nile. It was more than Yugi had dared to dream, even when he had begun to realise what the box may have been and what his grandfather had uncovered.

Next to him Miho took a sharp breath, and leaned in a bit closer, to get a better look. "Is that…?"

Yugi just nodded, not quite trusting his own speech at the moment.

 _Grandfather…You really didn't promise too much this time. This really was the greatest discovery of the century. Even Carter would be awed._

However, when Yugi barged into Isis' office not moments later to present to her the piece of papyrus, she looked neither awed nor otherwise impressed. His friends stumbled along behind him.

Not that any of this stopped Yugi; on the contrary, it meant he got the chance to explain exactly what his grandfather had found.

"You see the cartouche here—it's the official seal of Seti I. There can't be a mistake." At Yugi's excited explanation, Isis barely raised an eyebrow.

"It's possible, yes."

Joey, who had spent the last few seconds catching his breath and trying to follow the conversation, interrupted Yugi before he could continue defending his interpretation: "Ok, I don't understand anything about what's going on, or what this piece of dirt means—but, two questions: Who was Seti I, and was he rich?"

Yugi nodded, grinning up at his friend. "He was the second pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, and..." He winked at Joey. "He was said to have been the wealthiest pharaoh of them all. Which, given how much treasure pharaohs surrounded themselves with, means quite a bit."

Joey's smile could have lit up the whole room. Excitedly he rubbed his hands together. "Good, good, I think I'm going to like this guy very much." His three friends just shared a small smile. It was no secret that treasures and riches were what interested Joey most when it came to desert discoveries. But while Yugi couldn't agree with that, he also couldn't fault his friend either. Everyone had their reasons for coming to Egypt.

With another excited smile he bent down towards the map lying in front of Isis on the table. "But what's really interesting is not the seal. I've dated this map—it's almost three-thousand years old, which would fit Seti's reign—but the hieratic here…" He pointed at a few signs in the corner of the map."Well, it's the city of Hamunaptra—the first map to this city that has ever been discovered!" He still had trouble believing it. Hamunaptra. It had been more myth than history, a city which had haunted history books and the dreamers it inspired for generations. Countless adventurers had entered the desert around Thebes trying to catch even a hint of the city, but few had ever returned and those that did came home empty handed, finding only sand and heat.

Isis must have been thinking about the same stories for she snorted. "Really, Yugi? I didn't think you still believed in fairy tales. We are scholars, not treasure hunters." She shook her head. "Hamunaptra is a myth, a story told to amuse the Greek and Roman tourists and swindle them out of their money. Just because Herodotus believed something told to him long ago doesn't make it real. "

Yugi nodded hastily. "Yes, I know, I've heard the same stories about a curse, a mummy, and an unspeakable evil protecting the city and Egypt's treasures. Everybody has heard those stories." His grandmother was still angry that his grandfather had told him those tales as bedtime stories once. Truth to be told it probably had cost him a lot of sleep, so maybe she had a point, but he knew everything about this city by heart.

"Isis, I've studied and researched this city for as long as I can remember. The curse is just a story, and the riches hidden there may be a bit embellished, as it always is in such stories, but the city itself could be real and grandfather could have found all of those stories could be make-believe."

Isis looked up at him, probably preparing another sharp retort, but Tristan interrupted her. "Wait a moment. For the uninitiated among us, what exactly is Hamunaptra? What riches are we talking about here?"

"And what was that about a curse of a mummy?" Joey's eye was already twitching in Tristan's direction, and even though he tried to sound sure, he couldn't keep the apprehensiveness out of his voice.

Miho smiled, clearly cheering up at the thought of explaining about something. "It's the legendary city of the dead. The earliest pharaohs built it to hide and protect Egypt's treasure, and, according to the myths, this habit has kept until the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth dynasty. Only the dead should be able get to this wealth hence the name."

Yugi picked up her explanation. "It was also the place where the earliest pharaohs themselves were prepared for burial, and where special rituals connected with the death were practised. The Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra were supposed to be kept there: the two books containing the most powerful spells and forbidden curses."

Isis sighed. "Fairy tales, as I said. The city was supposed to be guarded that it could sink into the sand on a pharaoh's command, taking the treasure and the books with it. There's no safer place in all of Egypt, and only the pharaoh could command it." While she spoke she raised the map a bit higher, closer to the candle lighting up her desk, to study it better. "As the Americans would say"—her lips curled up in distaste—"it's all just fairy tales and hokum—oh my goodness!"

At her last words the edge of the papyrus moved into the candle's flame, and within seconds it had caught fire. Isis dropped the map in surprise, and Yugi nearly jumped at it to try and extinguish the flames. It worked, but while the papyrus was saved, he could only look down in dismay at the charred corner.

"You've burnt it." Yugi didn't even sound angry, but almost heartbroken, as if the partial destruction of the map had personally wounded him. "You burnt of the part with the lost city." The most important part of all too, and his only chance to retrace his grandfather's steps and find the hidden city. For a moment it had felt like he had finally held the key towards something he had been searching for his whole life—and in the blink of an eye it was all gone, as if his dreams had been ripped from his hands.

Isis just shrugged. "Are you really blaming me for an accident? Either way, it's probably for the best." Despite her careless words, her dark eyes rested on Yugi with an unreadable and serious look. "You know what happens to the ones searching for that city. Hamunaptra is a myth, and one that has truly earned its name in folklore. Those adventurers hunting it usually lose everything, and only Nekhbet's vultures know where they lie. "In an almost compassionate gesture, given that she still had every right to be furious at him, she laid a hand on Yugi's shoulder—

Then the compassion and pity in her face disappeared. "And now get out of here, all of you. Enough of fairy tales, I've got work to do, and you've got a mess in the library to fix!" And with a few hasty gestures she shooed them all out of her room.

The door fell shut behind them, and Yugi glanced down at the destroyed map again. Damn it, the first signs of life from his grandfather's in months, and now it was destroyed. Yugi was never going to find him again. With a sigh he turned around towards the library. Isis was right after all. He had a lot of cleaning up to do.

On the next step he would have nearly ran into Joey, who had suddenly stepped into his way. "Hey, you're ain't going to give up that easily, right?" His voice sounded almost accusing, and still Yugi only managed a shrug.

"What else am I supposed to do? Without that part of the map, I'm only going to land in the middle of the desert without any clue where to go next."

Joey shook his head. "First of all, you're not going to land in the middle of the desert— _we_ are going to land there, if anybody actually goes on this suicide trip. And secondly, there has to be another way to pinpoint this city. If the map brings us into the right territory…."

Yugi shook his head. "The right territory is not enough." If it was that easy, at least one of the hundreds of treasure hunters searching for the city would have stumbled on the city sooner or later. "The stories about the city sinking into the sand at the pharaoh's command are likely exaggerated, but there must be some protective measures to keep the city from being discovered." He looked back at the map, a rueful grimace on his face. "The burnt part didn't just show the city though. I only glanced at it for a moment, but it did describe what you needed to do to get past the city's protections."

And just like that it had been lost.

Next to him, Joey breathed out sharply. "Damn."

Yugi didn't really have anything to add to that.

Silence filled the corridor again, each of them lost in their own thoughts. It was Miho who broke the uncomfortable silence. She spoke slowly and carefully, as if she was still walking through her own thoughts, twirling a strand of her blond hair out of her ponytail. "If I remember correctly, Hamunaptra is supposed to lie in the middle of the desert, right?" She glanced over to Yugi, who nodded, slightly confused as to where she was going. That was pretty much the most basic fact about the city, the one thing everybody agreed upon.

A small smile bloomed on Miho's lips. "I can't really imagine your grandfather travelling through the desert alone. He knows too well how dangerous that could be." Stupid, not dangerous, was probably the better word, especially considering the city's track record of making people disappear.

Yugi nodded, slowly recognising where Miho's mind was wandering.

"And if he didn't travel alone, somebody else would know about that. He would have to talk to someone, and find a partner, and this partner…" Yugi was speaking faster now, a small grin blooming on his face. "Might have told him where they went!" He excitedly beamed up to his friends, sure to have found another hint. Joey's grin matched his own, happy to see Yugi's spirits up again and to have a new lead to follow, while Miho just smiled. Only Tristan didn't look quite convinced, hands folded in front of his chest and face drawn in a very doubtful frown.

"I hate to rain on your parade, but that's a lot of ifs. And even if this knowledgeable guy exists, how are you planning on finding him? He ain't going to pop out of thin air just because you need him."

Yugi's grin widened, even as he shook his head. "No, probably not. But luckily I know someone who knows everyone and everything going on in this city."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The Shepherd's Hotel was one of the busy centres of Cairo's social life. Since its founding in the middle of the nineteenth century, everyone who was anyone in Cairo had passed through its halls. Inspired by the ancient temples of the country and with an oriental style of opulence, resulting in stained glass windows, an interplay of grand terraces and magnificent gardens, and the great pillars of granite looking as if they were part of the many findings made in the ruins of Egypt, it was hard to believe that this luxurious house was also a military base. Admittedly, the British officers staying there were impressed by its grandeur, but far more interested in the American bar and the nightly dances held there. It was this bar, the true centre of everything going on in the city, that was Yugi's goal today.

It was late afternoon when he and his friends arrived, the heat of the day slowly lessening to something more bearable and the blue of the sky turning deeper, a soft glow which seemed to cover everything. Time was one of the reasons he hadn't went there immediately, knowing that the person he was looking for would only arrive for work later on. The other reason was that Isis would have probably skinned him alive if he ever left without at least attempting to sort out the mess in the library of the museum. Though the library didn't really look much better when they had left—with Joey and Tristan, being under strict orders not to touch anything, offering less than helpful advices and comments—the work had left Yugi feeling a bit less guilty. And it had been a much needed distraction, keeping his thoughts from returning to his grandfather's map, and the fact that his only clue left was just like Tristan had said, not much better than a shot in the dark.

But he was here now, with the soft, sweet sounds of the music drifting out of the entrance to the hotel's bar almost inviting him in. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

The music filled the air now, mixing with the soft tinkling of glasses and the warmness of the early evening. Low voices could be heard; not many people were present since dinner hadn't even started and the most busy hour for this bar would start later on when the guests would come trickling in for drinks, talk and of course dancing. Truth to be told, Yugi had come way too early, but he couldn't have waited an hour or even a moment longer. He needed to know if there was still a chance of reaching his grandfather and the city of the dead.

Yugi's eyes wandered to the dance floor, almost empty at this hour, and his face lightened up immediately when he spotted the person when was looking for. Thank god, she was in early today.

Tea Gardner stood with her back to him, looking out onto the dancefloor critically as if to measure it up. She wore her dress for the first dance, a pretty ensemble in pink, and nodded while listening to her work partner. As the hotel's dancer, her job entailed her to encourage the guests to dance and act as a dancing partner for gentlemen lacking a partner of their own; when she and her partner danced together, they entertained the guests with beautiful, swirling routines all around the floor. For the whole night she laughed and talked with guests, listening to their worries, the latest gossip, their comings and goings. She knew the guests and their families and their little problems. Nobody passed through this hotel without at least talking to her once.

And she had been Yugi's best friend since childhood. That was how Yugi knew her.

A couple of steps forward brought him in her line of sight, and Tea's eyes lit up when she saw him. She smiled, and gestured with her hand towards a table near the dance floor, asking silently for another second. Yugi nodded, and Tea finished up her conversation with a gracious smile and another nod before she turned around, and crossed the dance floor to join Yugi and the others. On the way she sometimes stopped, throwing a smile here or a quick greeting there; and talking with a waiter for a moment. Her eyes were always in motion, scanning the whole room.

"Yugi!" The joy in Tea's voice matched her smile to the others as she bowed down to hug him, and then slid down on the empty chair between him and Joey. "You guys haven't been around here for a while. Did anything happen?"

Joey shot her an offended look. "You sound like we need a reason to visit you."

Tea tilted her head towards him. "Well, Tristan only shows up when he can get free drinks on my bill, and you said that this whole thing is way too posh for you and that ten horses couldn't drag you in here, so I'm actually expecting an emergency close to the end of the world now, yes."

Joey laughed, looking over at his friend. "She's got a point here." Tristan just crossed his arms, muttering something like "I don't come only for free drinks."

Miho patted his shoulder, but she still couldn't quite hide a grin herself. "It's not like it's not understandable. This bar isn't famous for nothing, after all."

Yugi just shook his head smiling, before he turned to Tea again. "It's not quite that bad, actually. But yes, I do have a question."

Tea leaned forward a bit in her chair. "I knew it. So what do you want to know?" Her eyes grew bit softer, and she lowered her voice a bit. "Something about your grandfather?"

Yugi nodded. That hadn't been hard to guess: Tea knew as well as him how long the old man had been gone, and she definitely knew Yugi well enough to know that he would be worried sick.

"I'm sorry." Tea sounded almost as worried as he felt. She had spent most of her childhood around Yugi and his grandparents' house, and she cared about the old man almost as much as Yugi did. "I've kept my ears open, but I haven't heard anything about him since he left Cairo. I would have told you immediately if I had heard something."

Yugi nodded again, for a moment not quite able to speak because something seemed to have been lodged inside his throat. Seeing Tea worried made all his own fears more pronounced and sharper. Maybe that was the reason he hadn't visited her for a while; as long as he didn't speak to her, he could still tell himself that maybe she knew something—anything—that would dissuade his fears. It wasn't a good reason to stay away from his friend, but it had been one of the ways he had kept his own nerves calm.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I know." His voice shook a bit, and he took a second to clear it, before he bent forward again, lowering his voice. "But this time, I've heard something myself." As quietly and fast as he could, he recounted the day's events surrounding the map and the bronze box, and ending with the map's partial destruction. Tristan and Joey interjected from time to time, with Joey lamenting about Tristan's joke with the mummy, and Miho trying to bring them back on track. "And now we were wondering if you knew something about my grandfather's companions. He wouldn't have left alone, not on such a dangerous trip. Maybe some of them sent news...or something."

Yugi's voice trailed off, and he and the others grew quiet watching Tea. She bit her lip, leaning back a bit, clearly lost in thought, while she sorted through Yugi's story and everything she had heard. The seconds ticking by seemed almost endless, the sweet music filling the background now slowly grating on Yugi's nerves and the chatter of numerous guests irritatingly loud.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Tea slowly exhaled. "Ok, I think I can help you. But"—she raised her hand, seeing how Yugi's face had lightened up on her words—"I can't promise that this will actually be a lead to your grandfather, or to Hamunaptra. It's entirely possible that the person I'm thinking about knows nothing."

Yugi nodded hastily. Yes, of course, he knew that. But still, that was a lead, better than anything he had before. And he was sure that this would work. Tea's knowledge had never failed before; he saw no reason why it would now.

After looking at Yugi for a moment, to see if he actually understood what she had said, Tea continued with a doubting look on her face. "So, first, you were right. From what I know your grandfather didn't leave Cairo alone. Another archaeologist, British I think, did accompany him. He also hasn't been heard of or seen in Cairo since then but—you're in luck." She gestured with her head behind the group and towards a table in the back of the room. Yugi turned his head too, but he couldn't quite see much, just a small figure sitting hunched over in the shadows, surrounded by a group of other people.

Tea lowered her voice again, but she couldn't quite hide the look of disgust that crossed her face. "Over there, that is Kokurano. He is one of the most influential landlords in the city and your grandfather's partner was one of his tenants. From what I've heard the partner owes him quite a sum which is usual for Kokurano." A dark smile crossed her face. "You are always going to owe him massive sums, even if you're always on time with the rent. It's amazing how easily money and supporting documents can disappear. As it happens, he just now has a business meeting with the son of said archaeologist about those debts, right at the table over there. If anybody has heard about your grandfather's expedition apart from you, it would be Kokurano and that boy."

She bit her lip again, hesitating for a moment. "But still, I'm not sure sending you to Kokurano would do you a favour. That guy is one of the worst creeps I've ever met, and you are likely to lose just by getting in with him."

Yugi looked back at the table she had pointed out. He still couldn't see clearly what was going on over there—it was just too far away—and the table was tucked in the shadows of the room. Perfect to observe the well-lit dance floor without really being seen.

But despite this, there still were some details Yugi could clearly make out.

One, there were multiple people situated around the table, a detail he had noticed before. But they were distinctly grouped together, with the hunched over shape Yugi had seen before marking the centre of one group. Three people flanked the leader. Across from them sat a lone figure, small and drawn into themselves. And the lone person was the only one of the group who was at least a bit touched by the room's light.

What an interesting setup…

Yugi looked back at Tea and the others, and tried a nervous smile. "Well, then I better go over there and see if I can talk with someone." With Tea's worried eyes following him, Yugi stood up and crossed the room. He wasn't quite sure if what he had in mind was a good idea—no actually he was certain that it was a _bad_ idea, but he needed that information. His only clue led to these people—someone at the table must have something useful for him and Yugi would find out what it was.

It was just a game after all: the way the people had positioned themselves at the table—they were just players in a game, choosing positions which would serve them best. But how a game was set up could tell you a lot about who was playing it and how to play with them in turn. And if there was one thing Yugi was good at, it was games. So with a deep breath he squashed the last traces of his nervousness and put on the most charming smile he could manage.

He stepped towards the table. "Excuse me, may I interrupt you for a second?"

Five heads turned in his direction at once, all with varying degrees of annoyance, surprise and even a bit of nervous fright—and one look of unsettling calm and disregard. Now, standing close to them, Yugi could see the players much better. There were three girls on one side of the table. They were the angry ones, clearly annoyed and unhappy with his nerve at interrupting the conversation. But given that Tea had definitely talked about two men, neither of the girls could be whom he was looking for now.

They surrounded a young man, the one Yugi was willing to bet was Kokurano, the landlord Tea had warned him about. At first glance, he didn't look quite as intimidating as Tea's warning would have let him believe. He was quite small and bulky, with unusually long strands of hair that looked faintly purple in the low light. He wore quite ridiculous clothing, even when considering the eccentric ways some of the English tourists dressed when abroad in an attempt to copy the culture of the country they were visiting and failing miserably at it. He wore a caftan, a typical item of clothing for Egypt, but instead of being simply black it was decorated with golden embroidery forming gaudy symbols that were made up from a strange mixture of ancient hieroglyphs like the Eye of Horus and Arabic symbols of protection like the Hand of Fatima. Around his shoulders he wore a black cape, lined on the inside with red silk, which looked like Stoker's Count Dracula may have worn it on a summer's scroll through London, or perhaps the cape resembled part of a stage magician's getup. Around his neck Kokurano wore a small necklace with a silver cross and his hair was held back with a broad green hairband decorated with Japanese signs which didn't even form a coherent word, much less a complete sentence. All in all his whole get up was so painfully garish that Yugi was equally torn between being offended and just laughing out loud. But there were still Kokuranos eyes, the one thing about him which let all trace of laughter at his get up die.

They were small, quite disappearing in his round face, and so dark that they seemed to be entirely black, with no iris and barely any white in sight. From beneath the bangs falling over Kokurano's forehead, they blinked up at Yugi mistrustfully and appraisingly, as if he was still deciding what to do with the bug that had interrupted in time. They were cold and hard, and one look into them was enough that Yugi was willing to believe all of Tea's warnings, gaudy clothes or not. That guy was no good company.

With a hasty, apologetic smile Yugi looked away, trying to get away from those eyes for a moment, to plan his next move and to get a good reading on the last person at the table, his other target. He was younger than Kokurano, close to Yugi's own age, probably, and with the way he drew his shoulders up and knotted his hands laying on the table in front of him together, he was clearly not comfortable with the situation he was in. Long white hair fell over his shoulders, and hid his face from view, at least until he turned his face up towards Yugi. Their eyes just met for a moment, then the boy looked down again, but it was long enough for Yugi to spot the fear and nervousness in the boy's black eyes. Yes, definitely not comfortable. Well, if what Tea had said was true, he had didn't have a lot of reasons to be comfortable. Yugi tried to make his smile look as friendly and unthreatening as possible, but the harsh voice suddenly demanding his attention made it a bit hard to keep it on.

"And why should you? Don't you see we are having a discussion here?" Kokurano's dark eyes burned into Yugi, clearly underscoring his opinion that Yugi was just a nobody wasting his time and should promptly remove himself from his field of vision. It really was quite an intimidating display. Too bad that it really couldn't even come close to Isis' calm anger, which was something Yugi had the chance to get used to at some occasions. So he just smiled brightly at his adversary in this game.

"I noticed that, yes. But I just need to talk alone with my friend"—he nodded in the direction of the white haired boy, whose eyes wandered towards Yugi for a second at the word friend, but who thankfully didn't protest Yugi's embellished claim—"for a moment. It won't take long."

Kokurano's dark eyes narrowed in Yugi's direction, and for a moment he regarded him silently. Then, quite abruptly, he nodded. All the aggressiveness in his demeanour seemed to have vanished, to make room for a serene, unctuous smile. "Of course. Please, take your time. But your friend should remember that the powers will be waiting, and I will know if he decides to absconder without paying his debts. His ghosts won't help him."

Yugi blinked, trying to decide if he actually wanted to know what the hell this guy was going on about, but his new friend seemed to have a much clearer understanding of Kokurano's strange words. The white haired boy nodded hastily, and stood up so fast that his chair nearly tumbled down behind him. "Of course, Master Kokurano." He clearly couldn't get away from the situation fast enough, for in the next moment he had grasped Yugi by the arm, and nearly dragged him to another, empty table. It was far enough away from Kokurano and his company that it would be impossible for them to listen to their conversation, but still near enough that the strange group could watch them.

With a relieved sigh the white haired boy sank into his chair, and smiled up at Yugi, who sat down opposite of him. It was a tired smile, full of worries. "Thank you. I've no idea who you are, but I needed that break."

Yugi smiled at him, trying to put him at ease. "No problem. It looked like you weren't exactly at ease there, and I think you maybe actually able to help me. But before that..." He shot a quick glance back towards Kokurano's table, before he bowed down a bit towards his new friends, and lowered his voice. "What was that all about? What he said last? The part about the powers and the ghosts?" He didn't exactly want to accuse anyone from being a little bit out of their minds, but those sentences had been more than a bit concerning and strange.

To his relief, the boy opposite of him began to laugh. "Ah yes that must have sounded really strange. You see, Kokurano styles himself something of a soothsayer. He claims that some higher gods, which he never clearly identifies, gave him his own special powers, and he uses this to tell fortunes, or act as a medium. But don't call him either of those names to his face. It's just his powers, none of that suspicious stuff." The boy's eyes sparked with hidden laughter while he talked, and Yugi had to hide a matching grin. So that at least explained Kokurano's strange get-up. He was trying to look the part of a fortune teller! Though he actually had even the fortune-tellers making their living on Cairo's streets beaten for pure mix and matching and overdoing things.

"He's actually pretty successful, a big part of his fortune comes from that, and he has made a lot of useful connections through this business. And for the ghosts…" His new friend's smile faded a bit, and a slightly embarrassed look appeared on his face. "I'm a bit interested in occult practices. Tarot, Ouija boards, séances and the like. It's just a hobby; I'm not tricking people by claiming that their lost ones talk to me or anything. But Kokurano has heard about that somehow and he seems to think I'm a bit of competition for his market." He shook his head. "But enough about that. Nice to meet you." He offered Yugi his hand. My name is Ryou Bakura. How can I help you?"

Yugi shook his hand, and returned his smile. "Yugi Muto, it's nice to meet you too. And for that, I think my grandfather left with your father on an expedition and I…" He didn't get to finish his sentence.

In the blink of an eye, Ryou's face fell. His smile vanished, his eyes widened in shock, and even though he already looked extremely pale, his face turned as white as if he himself was ghost. "You're looking for Hamunaptra." His voice was barely above a whisper, and he looked at Yugi in horror, much like the way Joey had looked at Tristan's fake rising mummy earlier.

Well, at least that settled the question whether or not Ryou was the one he was looking for. But his reaction was surprising to say the least, and it really made Yugi uneasy. Most people, when Hamunaptra came up, would react with laughter or longing, dreaming of hidden treasures or an undiscovered city, full of mysteries and possibilities. Horror wasn't really something you'd associate with that.

Suddenly worried, Yugi slowly shook his head. "No, not exactly. I mean, it's part of what I'm looking for, but the city is not my main goal." It was a nice bonus, sure, and he couldn't deny that Hamunaptra fascinated him, that finding this legendary city, walking among its ruins would be heavenly, a dream come true. But his grandfather was still more important. He spoke slowly, carefully, trying to calm Ryou down, but the boy just looked at him.

"I…since my grandfather left, I haven't heard from him. It's been so long, and I didn't know where he went, until I recently got some post from him, with a map leading the way to Hamunaptra."

Ryou still wasn't saying anything.

"But it's…there has been an accident, and the map is incomplete. But I need to find my grandfather, and Hamunaptra is the only clue I have. So I thought you…"

"You thought I knew something." Ryou interrupted him, his voice sounding slightly strange, and coming from far away. "I understand that. But when my father and your grandfather left for Hamunaptra they didn't…" He closed his eyes, clenching them painfully, but Yugi could still see something wet glisten in the corner of his eyes. When Ryou opened them again, his voice was sure and even, and full of sadness and compassion. "You won't find your grandfather in Hamunaptra. There is nothing there but sand and blood."

Yugi gulped. Ryou spoke with such conviction, such sureness, that he couldn't help but feel his own hands shake a bit. There was a horror in Ryou's eyes, some hidden terror that could only come from personal experience. But whatever it was that made him afraid, it just made Yugi's quest more urgent. If something dangerous lay in this city, if his grandfather was caught there… He needed to find him, more than ever. He needed to go to Hamunaptra.

Yugi drew another breath, a bit shaky now. "You… You know something about this city? About where they went?"

Ryou looked at him for a moment, speechless, before he started to laugh. It was a dry, rough sound, far from containing even a trace of happiness. "Know something? Yugi." He interrupted his laughter to shake his head at Yugi with another one of his sad dark smiles. "I've been there."

Yugi's breath stopped. Been there? Ryou had actually been to Hamunaptra himself? But, that would mean…he would be the first living person for thousands of years who had entered the city and lived to tell the tale.

"You've been there? To Hamunaptra? You're sure of that?" The questions nearly tumbled over themselves coming out of Yugi's mouth, so fast was he talking at the moment. But in his excitement it was a wonder he actually could still form coherent words. Luckily, Ryou didn't seem to be offended by the suggestion that he may be wrong about the ruined city he may or may not have visited.

He just nodded, grimly. "Yes. I wasn't supposed too but… When my father and your grandfather left, I followed them. Father had been obsessed by Hamunaptra and the treasures hidden there for most of his life. Nothing, not his other work, not the debts needing to be paid, not his family, was ever as important to him as this city."

There was no trace of bitterness in Ryou's voice as he spoke, just a calm, resigned acceptance. Like it was just a fact of life. Still, Yugi's couldn't help but feel for him. True, his grandfather loved his expeditions and adventures, and he could lose all sense of time and his surroundings when lost in a game or in search of a new challenge. But he had never priced those hunts, those games, over the rest of his life. His family and friends had always been more important than that, and while games were a big part of his grandfather's life, they weren't the biggest. Living with a father like the one Ryou described was something Yugi couldn't imagine.

"So when he finally got a chance to find this city, he forgot everything again. And I had to follow him. To make sure…" Ryou didn't finish his sentence, probably figuring it would be impolite, but Yugi understood him either way. To make sure his father didn't fall into a crooks trap. Somebody that driven made an easy target after all. "But it was real. They found the city. And there…" Ryou's voice broke; his eyes were now looking straight at the table in front of him, where his hands were clenched so tightly together that it looked like they would tear themselves apart any moment now.

"My father didn't leave the city." The words were barely above a whisper. Before Yugi could react, could even start to actually realize what those words meant, Ryou looked up again, eyes full of pain and deadly serious. "I have no idea what happened to your grandfather. I haven't seen him when I fled the city, but if you haven't heard anything from him, if he's still there… I'm sorry," He really sounded like he meant it, too, which just made it worse. "Then he's probably not alive anymore."

Silence fell after Ryou's words. It seemed to stifle everything, even the chatter around them; and the music of the band, which sometime during their talk had started to play was drowned out and now sounded like it came from the other end of a tunnel, from a far away and different world. The only thing Yugi could still hear were Ryou's words, repeating themselves in his mind over and over again, like a broken gramophone.

 _Then he's probably not alive anymore… Then he's probably not alive anymore…_

 _No!_

In front of him Yugi's hands clenched themselves together so hard that they hurt, and he shook his head as if he could drive the words away like that, make them unspoken, untrue like that. No. His grandfather was still alive; he had to be. The old man couldn't die like that, far away from home, somewhere alone in the desert… Hamunaptra may have collected many victims across the millenniums but it wouldn't get his grandfather too. He wouldn't let it.

When Yugi looked up again, his violet eyes were burning. "You were there. You know the way. Can you take me to Hamunaptra?"

Ryou opened his mouth to answer him, but he didn't get the chance. From out of nowhere and hand descended on his shoulder, startling both him and Yugi. Ryou turned around, Yugi looked up, and both of them looked straight at Kokurano, who looked less than amused now.

"You've had a more than generous amount of time for your talking. Now the powers demand you back. You still owe me some money."

Oh, right. Yugi had almost forgotten that he was around too. But Kokurano was having no interest in disappearing again; instead he grabbed an only mildly protesting Ryou by the shoulder and started to drag him back towards the table where Kokurano's friends still waited. Which meant that Yugi's only chance at finding his grandfather threatened to vanish.

"Wait!" He was at his feet before he could even think about what he was doing, too panicked at the thought of losing his only hope. He couldn't let Kokurano get away with Ryou.

Kokurano turned around, levelling Yugi with an annoyed glare which he barely registered. He needed to make this work.

"What money?" Yugi asked. "What exactly are we talking about?"

Whatever patience Kokurano had ever had must have vanished already. He looked at Yugi like he was one of the scarabs the old Egyptians had thought to be holy. Only he was probably not thinking about anything holy but the dung those beetles were rolling around. "We are not talking about anything. But if you have to know, this guy's father owes me the rent for the last five months, and if nobody pays up, he's going to prison for that. Now the powers command you to leave us alone."

That was nice for the powers. Too bad that Yugi really didn't care. But Ryou going to prison was of some concern, not just because he knew the way to his grandfather. During the moments they had talked the other had been nice, Yugi had liked him. Maybe his father really had racked up some debts; Ryou had mentioned something like that after all, when he spoke about his father's obsession. But Yugi also remembered Tea's warning about Kokurano, that anybody getting involved with him was set up to lose. Either way, Ryou didn't deserve to enjoy the less than pleasant hospitality of Egypt's prison system for that. And Yugi knew just what he could dangle in front of Kokurano to get him out of that. Even if Ryou probably wouldn't be happy about that.

He took a step forward, directly into Kokurano's way, and looked him straight in the eye. "You don't want to do that."

Kokurano just snorted. "Oh yes?" A gesture of him sufficed, and the three girls who had accompanied him here appeared at his side, and started to drag Ryou away, no longer towards the table, but, way more concerning, towards the door. "And why would that be?"

Yugi took a deep breath, trying not to let the panic at watching Ryou disappear get the best of him. He had one shot at this, but he was sure he was right. After all, everything both Tea and Ryou had told him about Kokurano pointed towards two things. He loved attention, and he was greedy.

With a bit of showmanship, Yugi bowed towards Kokurano, and lowered his voice, making sure nobody but Kokurano could hear him. "Because he knows the location of Hamunaptra." At the sight of Kokurano's stunned face a tricky smile appeared on Yugi's lips, and he nodded. "The exact location."

Kokurano closed his mouth, which had fallen open at Yugi's words, and blinked rapidly. Obviously his powers hadn't told him about that little detail. "You lie." The words were barely more than a whisper, and his eyes already sparkled, greed clearly shining through.

Yugi hastily shook his head. "I would never." Not about that, not when it was so important.

"You are telling me, this fraudulent son of a crazy, raving, debt-swindling madman knows where the city of the dead is?" Kokurano still seemed to be unable to believe what Yugi was telling him, but it was not like Yugi could fault him for that. It was unbelievable. Even if he could have given words to his astonishment without offending Ryou in the process.

"Yes!" Yugi's word was pure conviction, sure in every letter. But Kokurano had to ask one more time, shaking with barely contained excitement.

"Truly?"

"Yes!" Yugi hissed the last word, impatient to finally stop this reassurance game. The girls had nearly gotten Ryou out of the door, and with the music nobody was paying attention to them, especially since Ryou didn't even attempt to struggle, but just walked with them now. Any longer and they would be gone. "And if you let him go, and forget about the debts you'll get…"

He only hesitated for a second. The riches of Hamunaptra weren't his goal; if it was up to him and if it wouldn't be such a waste on this guy, Kokurano could have it all. But Joey needed money, desperately, with his sister's eyesight getting worse every day. Even a fraction of Hamunaptra's fabled riches would more than make up for her doctors' bills, and could rid his friends from a lot of his worries. If he had a choice, he'd rather see any treasure he might stumble across during his search for his grandfather go towards Joey. Or Isis and the museum, as a way to rebuild the library, and becoming part of the collection…

Kokurano was the last one who deserved any of it. But he needed to make a deal, and it was better to start low. "Ten percent."

Kokurano barely deemed that worth a snort; his counter offer came as fast as a pistol shot. "Fifty!" He knew his bargaining of course, but Yugi had grown up here, on the streets of Cairo and the roads in his grandmother's village, surrounded by the bustle, and the haggling of the markets. If Kokurano wanted to haggle, he would find his match.

"Twenty!"

"Forty!" And this offer from Kokurano was his chance. He was way too fast with his numbers, not really paying attention…

"Thirty!"

"Twenty-five!"

And he had walked straight into the trap. Yugi's delighted laughter rang out loud. "Deal!"

The look Kokurano now levelled him with, halfway between annoyance and pure hatred, gave rise to the suspicion that he hadn't been challenged and beaten very often. But a deal was a deal, that was the ground rule of any haggling taking place in Egypt and Kokurano was bound by this unspoken law as much as anyone else. Nobody would do business with someone said to go back on a deal.

With a last angry glare in Yugi's direction he turned around, and gestured towards the girls and Ryou. They let him go almost immediately, and when Ryou turned around and saw Yugi standing next to Kokurano, smiling at him, a slight smile appeared on his lips as well, after a moment of confusion. Still, the worry in his eyes hadn't lessened, and later, after he and Yugi had finalised their agreement and the start of the journey the next morning, and Yugi turned around to return to his friends, Ryou stopped him for a second.

"I really hope you know what you're getting into." His voice was low, and Yugi nodded, more serious than he had ever been on this evening.

"I hope so too." Nobody knew what they were getting into with Hamunaptra. But he could at least be prepared. Which meant that he had a long night ahead of him. As well, he could catch up on any sleep he missed on the boat to Luxor.

With a relieved smile he returned to his friends, letting himself fall into his chair with a sigh. Four pairs of curious eyes watched him. "So what kinda deal did you cut with that walking Christmas decoration over there? Did you find a way to the city or not?" At Joey's description of Kokurano Yugi had to snicker. It was quite fitting.

When he spoke, a proud smile danced over his face. "Oh yes. I did. I've got guide to Hamunaptra."

Joey nodded. "Good. When do we leave?" At Yugi's surprised look he shrugged. "Oh please. I'm not looking forward to this city of the dead, to sand, and stones and dead bodies lying around, but there's no way I'm going to let you go there alone."

Next to him Tristan nodded. "True, and you said it yourself, this city is dangerous as hell. Also, somebody has to protect poor little Joey from the big bad evil mummies." At the last words he wrapped his arm around Joey's shoulder and tried to pat his friend's head with the other hand, which netted him a shove and a very annoyed look.

Miho smiled, while Tea shook her head with a sigh. "Boys, if you break anything, you are paying for that, understood?" When she turned back towards Yugi, her face was drawn in a worried frown. "I can't leave here, but, if anything happens, if anything goes wrong… When you make it back, you guys can always come and stay here. I can arrange something with the management. And I'll keep my ears and eyes open for something useful." She laid her hand over his, and squeezed it slightly. "Be careful, Yugi. I have a bad feeling about this."

Yugi smiled and tried to look reassuring while he squeezed her hand back. He wished he could actually tell her that there was no reason to worry, that everything was fine. But truth to be told, he really couldn't tell that big of a lie. Ryou father died in Hamunaptra, if what he told Yugi was right, and Yugi's grandfather might not be in much better shape. The old stories of the city spoke about a deadly place, a trap which never let anyone go who entered it. Only the pharaoh could walk there; anybody else would be crushed.

As much as he was happy about his friends' readiness to help him, a part of him wished that they would stay here, be safe. But it was too late to talk Joey and Tristan out of it, and so he leaned back into his chair; and let the music, the voices of the guests, Miho's laughter, Tristan's and Joey's mumbled fear of Tea's wrath wash over him. Yugi was determined to enjoy his night here with them, and determined to ignore the feeling that it might be the last.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The harbour of Cairo was awash with people when Yugi and his friends arrived. Despite it being only eight in the morning, half of Cairo seemed to be here. Fishermen were bringing in this morning's catch, the time already late for them; captains were watching the unloading of their ships; workers were either hauling charges around, or looking to catch a captain's eye to get work for the day; merchants were trying to sell their wares. And then there were the tourists, the focus of the merchant's attention. Most of them English, they were looking for their boats for a trip down the Nile, towards Aswan and Nubia, and the fabled Temple of Ramses II built there. Or they were chartering a small boat, for just a short trip along the Nile's length, which was something charming and talkative boat owners were only too happy to convince them they absolutely needed.

But the boat owners were not the only ones targeting the travellers. Fortune-tellers strode the harbour as much as any street in Cairo, looking for an easy target to impress with talk about their glorious and good future. For a moment Yugi actually had to wonder if Kokurano started out like this, a fortune-teller on the street, only to dismiss the thought almost immediately. He didn't get the impression that Kokurano would be willing to put in the hard work walking along the streets and the harbour would entail, not to mention the charm and reverence necessary for this job, which weren't quite the traits he had displayed yesterday. No Kokurano would probably look down on the ones trying to make their living here.

And of course there were the street kids. It was almost amusing watching them float around a gentle tourist opening their wallet for them, without realising that they would have soon a whole flock of children following them around. The whole harbour was alive, bustling with voices and sounds—and in the early morning air, still a bit cold from the night, but with the beginning promises of the hot day already mingled in, Yugi couldn't help but smile. This was one of the reasons he loved Cairo, this loud and busy city, bursting at the seams with life and colour.

"That's your ship over there, right?" Miho pointed towards one of the white ships anchoring at the docks. It was one of the cruise ships, taking the trip towards Luxor and the south regularly. In two days and one night they would reach Luxor. If everything went right of course. _Inshalla,_ or "as God wills it," was the countries unofficial motto, and the phrase you would hear most, without reason. Looking at the ship he felt a lurch in his stomach, a mixture between excitement, and nervousness. It was real, it was actually happening. He was going to travel to Hamunaptra, and find his grandfather. He was going on a real expedition. So much for too less practical experience.

But under the normal apprehension that such a task would bring with it, there was a layer of real fear hidden. He had no idea what would be waiting for them in Hamunaptra, but it couldn't be anything good. Even if he had dreamed of the city for most of his life, after yesterday he wasn't sure if those dreams were about to turn into nightmares when colliding with reality.

Yugi nodded, and Joey's eyes wandered over the ship. "Nice one. Looks like a comfortable trip." He turned his head around searchingly. "The guide you dug up yesterday isn't here yet?"

Yugi shrugged. He had kept looking around for Ryou on the whole way up the dock, but not a trace of the boy had been seen. And he should have been easy to spot, even in this crowd, his white hair sticking out in almost any setting. "I haven't seen him yet. Maybe he's already on board."

Tristan snorted. "Or maybe he got cold feet. You said that he was frightened to death about this city."

True, Ryou had feared the city, and if he had decided that he couldn't face it again, Yugi would find it hard to blame him. He had watched his father die there; nobody deserved to be forced to face this place again. But it still meant the loss of his only chance to find his grandfather, and Ryou had sounded calm and sure when he had promised Yugi to be at the harbour today. So Yugi refused to believe that he wouldn't show up.

"He is going to come. He promised."

Next to him, Joey shook his head. "Yes, he did. But Yugi, did you think that maybe something isn't quite right about that?" At Yugi's surprised look, he elaborated. "I mean, don't get me wrong, but everything seems to be moving way too quickly and way too easily. You lose the only map towards a city that's been lost for god knows how long, and almost immediately you find the only one who's ever been there and returned? And despite being afraid of the city he agrees to take you there? I know Tea pointed him out, not to doubt your knowledge"—the last phrase was directed towards Tea, who watched him with folded arms—"but life ain't that generous. You're sure he ain't trying to play you?"

Yugi's very first instinct was to protest. Ryou had seemed genuinely honest yesterday, and the way he had talked about his father, about what happened in Hamunaptra….that couldn't be faked. But Joey did have a point. It had been too easy. Only Ryou staging this actually seemed even more unlikely than it all being just coincidence.

"Not really, but—" At Joey's eye roll Yugi spoke a little bit faster, trying not to get interrupted. "No, how would he do that? He couldn't have known that I would ask Tea for help, or that I would even know Tea, that she actually could point him out…or that I was even looking for him in the first place." He shrugged. "If the map had still been complete, I wouldn't even have thought about looking for help anywhere. If that's a trick he relied a lot on chance."

Joey folded his hands over his chest, clearly not convinced. "True, but maybe he just spotted a good chance and improvised. You don't know if a single thing he told is actually true, apart from the fact that his father owes this walking occult hatrack money. Sorry, Yug, but you tend to trust a little too easily."

Yugi was about to retort that he didn't trust that easily, he was just optimistic when it came to people, when a voice behind the friends interrupted them.

"I'm sorry, I think I'm a bit late. I forgot something and had to return home." Ryou stood there, like he had just grown out of the ground, wearing a slightly guilty smile, and still being a bit out of breath. One of his hands was clutching the front of his shirt in an anxious gesture. Yugi answered his smile with another one, made brighter by a hint of guilt. Ryou hadn't heard what they had talked about right? That would be a _perfect_ start for this expedition.

But nothing in Ryou's demeanour showed that he may have heard Joey suspecting him to be a fraud. He just looked curiously from one friend to the other. Maybe he noticed that they all looked a bit startled and guilty. "You are all coming with us?"

At Ryou's question, Miho started out of her surprise, and shook her head. "No, not quite. Just those three." She pointed at Yugi, Joey and Tristan, and turned with a smile back towards Ryou. "Tea and I have to stay." There was something wistful in her voice, and Yugi felt another pang of guilt. He had tried to convince her to come with them, and Miho had clearly been tempted, but she had still resisted. As she had pointed out, at least one of them should stay here; there was still work to do, and they couldn't just leave the library like that. Isis would have a stroke if the both of them just disappeared. At that point Yugi had offered to stay, since the library was his fault, and there was no reason Miho should have to be saddled with the clean-up. But Miho had denied that too, by pointing out that it was Yugi's grandfather who was missing. He had a bit more at stake than she had. Still, it didn't feel right, now more than ever.

Next to Miho, Tea nodded. "Yes, some of us have to work." She measured Ryou with a hard look. "So you're the one who knows the way to Hamunaptra." It was a statement, not a question, and Ryou could do nothing but nod, even though he did take an unconscious step back.

"Uh, yes." He wasn't the first one to feel ill at ease when confronted with Tea trying to get a measure of someone.

"Good. Can you look me in the eye and guarantee that this isn't some kind of trick, or mad dash across the desert?" She was still worried, and given what they had just talked about, her question, if direct and a bit impolite, was justified.

Ryou took a deep breath, and suddenly stood up a little bit straighter. He looked her directly in the eye, when he spoke. "Yes. My father believed in this key and the map so much that he used what was left of his money to actually go on that expedition. When he and your grandfather"—he looked at Yugi for a split second—"got there, they found nothing but ruins and blood on stones." With that gloomy statement uttered he looked around. "Oh, I still have to get my luggage. We'll see each other on the boat then." A friendly nod was his last greeting, before he disappeared up the gangway, where a group of loud Americans had just walked past.

The friends looked after him for a moment completely speechless.

Tristan was the first to recover. With a harsh laugh he shook his head. "Well, he's quite a ball of sunshine, all right. That's going to be one funny trip." With a sigh he hoisted his own luggage and turned towards the gangway. "But he's got the right idea, we should get moving too." And, a little bit softer, under his breath, he murmured, "I'm definitely keeping an eye on him." With that he went up to the ship, followed by Joey and his friend's scream.

"Damnit, wait for me!"

Yugi and the girls were the last ones still on the embankment. The clammy, uneasy feeling that had haunted Yugi since last night had now reached a crescendo. If he could, if he had actually been able to leave his grandfather to his fate, he would have turned around right then and there and left his dreams about Hamunaptra, all legends of the ancient city, behind to go with Miho and sort through partly destroyed library books for the rest of his days. But he couldn't no matter how much he wanted. He couldn't let his grandfather behind.

Gathering all his courage, and trying to hide his anxiousness behind a smile, he turned towards the girls. "Well, looks like it's really going to happen now." He shouldn't get any further with his goodbyes.

A shout tore through the harbour, and when Yugi and the others turned around, they saw how the mass of people on the embankment drifted apart hastily, and shooed aside by a group of girls who tried to make way for a black horse, richly and almost overdonely fit up in red leathers making up the saddle and the reigns, with golden nails blinking out in the sunlight holding the reigns together, and red feathers decorating the horse's headdress.

After that it wasn't really hard to guess the rider. Still, Yugi's mouth fell open when he saw Kokurano on the horse, riding straight towards them. Next to him he could hear Tea curse under her breath.

"Damn it. Who does he think he is? A pharaoh?" Yugi had to agree with her, though, even given the Egyptians love for gold and beautiful things and their rich reserves of them, he suspected even the pharaohs managed to show a little bit more restraint and definitely a lot more taste than Kokurano didnow. It was one thing for a living god to parade through the streets dressed to the nines;Kokurano didn't have quite the same leverage and status.

Kokurano didn't seem to realise the animosity and the shock which his sudden appearance had caused. Stopping in front of the small group, he climbed down from his horse, with the help of one of the girls accompanying him, in the most majestically way possible. He looked over at Yugi and the girls, who stared at him in a mixture of annoyance and surprise, and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"What, did you think I wouldn't try to protect my investment? The powers told me that you would try and cheat me out of it. Of course I'm coming with you." With that said, he disappeared up the gangway, together with the rest of his carnival, leaving Yugi staring at him open mouthed behind him.

For a moment nobody spoke. Then, slowly, Tea started to laugh. "Looks like Tristan is right. This is going to be one hell of a journey." Even though Miho patted his shoulder in a gesture of compassion, Yugi could see how the corners of her mouth started to twitch upward. He just shot both girls an annoyed look, which did nothing to temper their amusement.

"Thank you, that's really helpful."

Miho shrugged. "You knew it wouldn't be easy. Though now I'm actually kind of glad I'm not coming with you. It's shaping up to be very…interesting."

Tea just smirked. "Come on, at least it can't get any worse now. And you guys are going to have a lot of stories to tell when you're back."

Her words, and the looks of the two girls standing on the pier, both amused and worried, still turned around in Yugi's mind hours later, when Cairo had long disappeared behind the ship; and nothing but water, the occasional small village hidden in the green embankment of the river, and the falling darkness accompanied them on their journey up the Nile. It couldn't get any worse now… He could only hope that Tea would be right, and that Kokurano's annoying presence was actually the worst thing in store for them. Somehow he doubted that.

After the slightly shocking morning, the rest of the journey had actually been pretty uneventful so far. The ship had a good speed, and even though it was full with other passengers, it was big enough that they weren't constantly sticking their elbows into each other. The slightly stronger breeze on the river and the landscape passing them by under a cloudless sky had a calming element to them, and so Yugi had spent the first part of the day on deck, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. They weren't alone on the river: some fishing boats occasionally crossed their way and accompanied them for a while, and when they by-passed a village, there were always some curious kids who were trying to chase the ship or bathing in the river. It was normal enough, ordinary life just going on as usual, that Yugi's fears started to look more and more ridiculous, like nebulous nightmares. He wasn't even sure of what exactly he had been afraid.

But he couldn't gaze out over the water forever, so around midday he had returned to his cabin, pouring over the map again. He had done the same whenever he had had a chance, looking at the map over and over till even the slightest line or the faintest trace of a hieroglyph was burned into his mind. He still had the feeling that he was missing something, that maybe if he was looking at it long enough, it could tell him something about what was waiting for them in Hamunaptra—any sign or hint of a warning, anything that would help them be prepared. But apart from the obligatory warning—the one that seemed to be almost reflexively added whenever the city of the dead was mentioned anywhere, talk about "don't enter the city or you'll die painfully from the wrath of the pharaoh, the gods, and anybody else important, and Ammit eating your soul will be the most pleasant thing about the whole experience"—nothing was written there. At this rate he would only succeed at staring holes into the papyrus.

While he was busy with that, his hand had automatically wandered towards the box. His fingers glided over the hieroglyphs again, and he turned his head to look at it. It was really pretty, barely showing any signs of age…not even a hint of green caused by oxidation, or any sign of dirt. A few cuts here and there were the most damage he could see. His grandfather must have polished the thing to death.

He pressed the hidden feather again, watching it snap open. Truly a work of art; even the edges of the triangles making up the sun-like form were all different, formed by rectangular shapes…almost like the teeth of a key… As if in a trance his finger glided over the edges of the triangles and his eyelids started to get heavy…

 _The key to the city…_ Eden… Hadn't Tristan said something like that, but that didn't sound like Tristan… Laughter strange and familiar from far away… A sudden warmth filled his mind, the idea of sunlight streaming into the room, accompanied by a welcome breeze…but the windows were closed…

 _And the books…I couldn't imagine a worthier keeper…_

With a thud Yugi's head connected with the table in front of him, and he sat up hastily, blinking rapidly. What had just happened? He must have fallen asleep; the candle next to him had burned down farther along that he remembered, proving that he had missed quite some time. He really needed to catch up some sleep and soon. Last night may have actually been a bit too late, with all the hasty preparations.

Shaking his head, Yugi looked up at the window, relieved to find that, yes, he had been right, it had been closed, and he startled at the same time because he could see nothing but a dark sky. Had he truly been asleep that long? Evening had barely started to fall when he had sat down, and he was sure that he hadn't glared at the map quite as long. With a sharp stab of guilt he remembered that he had barely seen Joey and Tristan all day, not to speak of Ryou. His friends had joined him on deck during the afternoon for a while, before they had moved on to search for something to eat, with the promise of meeting Yugi later that evening. Well, it was definitely later now, and he had nearly slept through that. And Ryou…he hadn't seen the white-haired boy at all since they had met on the pier that morning, which, actually, was a bit concerning. It was definitely time to check on his travel companions. And getting up and walking might actually drive away the rest of his sleepiness.

Stretching Yugi stood up, and walked to the door, quite happy with his new plan, and determined to put the strange dream behind him. He barely noticed that he left the map and the box laying there in the middle of the table.

The night air was crisp and cold, and a few deep breaths were enough to drive the last remnants of sleepiness from Yugi's mind. He paused for a moment at the railing, letting his eyes wander over the dark river. The moon was far from full, and the night cloudy enough that barely any slivers light were reflected in the waves. The lamps on the ship lightened up the deck itself, but everything that lay beyond the railing was nothing but an unbreakable mass of black. Yugi had to suppress a shiver, not just at the coldness, but at the blackness surrounding them. On a night like this, it was easy to believe the old tales of deadly water spirits lying in wait behind this impenetrable wall; easy to expect something, monstrous or not, using the darkness as its cover while it waited for the right moment to strike. Anything could be catching up to them, and they wouldn't even know it…

And he was letting his sleep deprived mind get the better of him. With a shake of his head Yugi turned away. It was just darkness, nothing else. Quite common, especially around night time. Still, as he went to search for his friends, his steps might have been a bit faster than usual.

A few meters away from the ship, a paddle was tipped loudlessly into the river. If Yugi had stayed for a moment longer, if he had actually tried to see something in the darkness, he might have been able, if he had been lucky, to at least see the shape of three small Nile boats slowly but steadily catching up to them, and the men sitting inside them, as motionless and calm as statues.

But he didn't stay, and to his relief, it wasn't that hard to find Tristan at last. He just had to follow the sound of the voices, loud and full of merriment of a slightly aggressive kind, and walk towards the point where the most light was to be found on the ship. Near the front, next to some chests and boxes the ship was also transporting, somebody had placed a table, some chairs, and a lot of booze. The air was heavy with the smoke of cigarettes, and Yugi had to stifle a cough when he stepped up next to Tristan. His friend leaned on the wall next to some of the cabins, watching with hands folded over his chest at the scene in front of him.

Four people were gathered round the table, each holding a set of playing cards in their hand, and another man sitting on a chest nearby, clearly engrossed in his reading, or at least trying to pretend to be. It couldn't be easy, with the entire racket around him. The lively conversation and the money on the table itself made clear that the game taking place wasn't played just for reasons of friendliness. Three of the four people on the table Yugi remembered from boarding this morning, a group of American travellers. He hadn't paid them much attention back then, but maybe it was high time to change that because the fourth player, grinning brightly and looking for everyone like he was having the time of his life, was Joey.

Yugi opened his mouth, a bit surprised, because while Joey could be expected to try his hand at any time of gambling and luck based games he could find, and succeed at them quite well, he tended to avoid settings laced thickly with alcohol. Turning towards Tristan Yugi shot his friend a quizzical shot, who shrugged.

"They've been at this game for half an hour yet. I'm not sure if Joey's currently stripping them of their money or losing his own, but he was the one who approached them." Given his frown he clearly wasn't comfortable with the situation, but the shrug conveyed even better than his words, that this was Joey's own idea, so good luck to him. Still, Tristan's eyes never left the scene before him, waiting for something—anything—to go wrong.

Yugi turned his head back to the game, his confusion not really solved by Tristan's words, just in time to catch the eyes of one of the players. A wolfish grins appeared on the man's face. He was bigger and more muscular than his companions, wearing the same durable clothes that they did, but holding part of his shaggy blond hair back with a bandana, decorated with the American flag. Even though the lamps didn't quite drive all the darkness away, he was still wearing a pair of sunglasses. Still Yugi could feel the eyes behind them piercing into him.

"Muto, right? Come one, sit down. We could always use another player." The words sounded affable enough, but there was something in his voice, a sharpness, which made Yugi suspect that the offer wasn't as friendly as it sounded.

So he smiled, even while shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but I'm only gambling with my life, never with money." That was an old joke, between him and his friends, since Joey had one day remarked that Yugi seemed to be fascinated by the most outlandish games. The more dangerous the better, he had claimed. It wasn't true of course. Yugi was fascinated by all games, but the comment had stuck. So it was no wonder that Joey broke out in laughter when he turned towards Yugi. But still, his grin was a bit too wide, a bit too friendly.

"Suit yourself. But those guys here could probably tell you a thing or two about such a gamble." Jou shot his fellow players a short glance, before looking back at Yugi. "After all they are looking for Hamunaptra." The wide eyes and the pointed look weren't necessary. Despite the easy way Joey had spoken, he got his point and his nervousness at the news across quite well.

Yugi's breath stopped for a moment, and when he spoke again, he didn't have to act much to make his voice sound surprised. "Hamunaptra? The city of the dead? R-really?" That wasn't possible; that couldn't be possible. What were the odds that another group of adventurers would look for the lost city at the same time as them? And that they would just happen to be on the same boat? The bad feeling Yugi had tried to shake all day returned with vengeance, screaming at him louder than ever. Something was wrong, something was very wrong with this whole situation, and given the look on Joey's face, his friend was suspecting much the same.

One of the other Americans, a short guy with darkish grey hair which stood up from his head like he had gotten in contact with a source of electricity recently, and skin so tightly drawn over his face that it looked almost skeletal, sniggered, when he threw up his next card. "What's the matter? Are you afraid of the mummy haunting the place?" Laughter rung out around the table, and Joey's face turned into a painful grimace. He was clearly looking less and less forward towards Hamunaptra. The blond man with the sunglasses laughed the loudest, a harsh mocking sound.

Yugi shook his head, trying to keep the annoyance rising inside him at bay. "No, of course not. I'm just wondering… It's just so many people have been looking for the city, and nobody has ever found it. What makes you so sure you can actually reach it?" Innocently enough, and quite a logical question to ask.

The blond man snorted, clearly not impressed with Yugi's act, but the last player, a man with short black hair bound in a small ponytail behind his head, answered, "Oh please, they were all amateurs."

As if they themselves weren't. Yugi couldn't imagine any of them actually ever having any experience with archaeology or Egyptology.

"No, if anyone is going to succeed, it's going to be us." The black-haired man grinned at the others, so sure of their determined victory, and equally overconfident smiles answered him. "After all we got us a man who's already been there."

That was too much.

At the next second, the blond man's fist flew done on the table so harsh, the bottles danced, and a few coins fell to the floor. "Keep your mouth shut, Zygor. No need to babble to everybody who comes across us." Under his glare behind the sunglasses, the so called Zygor sunk inside himself, like a balloon losing air.

"Sorry, boss." His voice was barely above a mumble, but it was too late already. Yugi's mind was already racing. Somebody who had been to Hamunaptra? There couldn't be that many people around fitting this description. He had only ever had of one who had made this claim…but Ryou was supposed to be their guide. Wasn't he?

He looked up to see Joey's eyes locked at him. He friends face was grim, and he nodded shortly. Clearly he had already reached the same conclusions Yugi was still not ready to believe. His words from the morning still rebounded in Yugi's head. _You're sure he ain't trying to play you?_ No, at this moment he wasn't. He just couldn't see a reason for that anywhere. Apart from getting more money for guiding two groups…but Yugi wasn't even actually paying him anything… He had gotten him a chance to get Kokurano off his back, but Ryou could have made this offer on his own. No, it was strange, it couldn't be… But either way, he had wanted to check on Ryou either way, so maybe he could ask him about the Americans when he was at it.

"Well then, good luck on your journey." Yugi's smile was far from being honest and a lot shakier than he wanted to. "And your game." He guested a bit helplessly at the card game on the table, before he turned around and left. Only his two friends noticed, that the blond man's eyes followed him over the deck. He looked anything but happy, before he turned back to the game, and barked at Zygor to finally make his move, they weren't going to wait for him all evening.

It didn't take Yugi long to find Ryou after all. In fact, he nearly ran into him. For some reason the Ryou had decided that the darkest part of the deck was the ideal place to stand still like a statue and watch the river. Yugi's sudden appearance seemed to have startled him as well, because he flinched and turned around so sharply that for a moment it seemed like he was going to hit Yugi, something golden glinting up over his chest and his face drawn into an angry grimace. But that must have been an odd trick of the low light because at the next second Ryou looked the same as he always had, if not a bit startled.

"Sorry Yugi. I didn't expect anybody to come around here." With an apologetic gesture he smiled up at Yugi. "What are you doing here? It's getting late." The unspoken implication that they would need all the rest they could get when they arrived at Luxor hung in the air between them, and with a slight sting of guilt, because he knew he needed rest pretty badly, Yugi shook his head.

"I know, I'm on my way to bed already. But I don't think I can find sleep so easily tonight."

Ryou nodded. "I understand. Hamunaptra is getting closer, and it must be exciting to get closer to the destination of your wishes."

Yeah, that was a good explanation, and partly true. The fact that a strong uneasiness, and growing doubts about what the Americans had said also played a part, was not something Yugi actually wanted to mention to Ryou. But he had to breach the topic somehow, even if he had no idea how he could accomplish that without raising his suspicion. So he just shrugged, silently wishing that doubting Ryou and trying to deceive him in turn weren't necessary. Yugi didn't like to mistrust anyone, and deceiving somebody was not something he ever enjoyed. He looked out on the dark and invisible river to try and hide his discomfort.

"Yeah, I think so…" It didn't sound quite as enthusiastic as it could be, and Ryou looked at him surprised. But before he could say anything, Yugi turned back towards him. "It can't be easy, returning there. I didn't thank you for helping us get there before. I really appreciate it."

Now it was Ryou's turn to look out on the river unmoving. "Maybe Yugi you shouldn't thank me." With surprise Yugi noted that his hands were grasping the railing so hard, his knuckles were turning white. "There's something out there, something under the sand…" He stopped, shaking his head. "I really can't understand why everybody is so fascinated by that city, why anybody would want to go there." There was a certain harsh tilt to his voice, sounding almost bitter, but Yugi couldn't really blame him. Not after what he told him about his father.

So Yugi just stood beside him and looked out into the darkness. "Well, there are a lot of things you could find there. Theoretically." He grinned. "I'm looking for my grandfather. He was looking for a challenge. The city is supposed to be one giant game, a puzzle designed to kill anybody who doesn't belong there." Maybe Joey did have a point about him and dangerous games; he could feel his own excitement raising. "And then there's the book supposed to be kept there, a special one. "The key to the books… Wasn't that what the voice in his dream had said? Even if the book hadn't been in front of his thoughts for a while now, it still kept his interest. With a shrug he chased the thought away, not really concerned by it. It was no wonder he was thinking about it after all. "And the Americans over there…They are looking for the treasure hidden there I would guess."

At the last words Yugi glanced at Ryou from the corner of his eyes, trying to catch any possible reaction, any hint of guilt or anything that would point towards a previous knowledge about the Americans.

But Ryou…while Ryou did react, it was just by turning his head slightly to look at him, politely curious but clearly not quite listening. "Treasures? Yes, I suppose there must be some…"

Yes, that was leading nowhere. With a shake of his head Yugi turned back to the river and decided that he needed a different approach. He could of course tackle the issue head on and ask Ryou if he was also leading the Americans to Hamunaptra, but really, what was Ryou supposed to say? Admit to everything, whatever that was, at once if he was guilty? Nobody was that accommodating. But still, he had noticed that Ryou didn't seem surprised at his mention of Americans, specifically Americans looking for something in the city of the dead. It was no proof, but still…

"My grandmother used to tell me stories about this city. Well, warnings actually. The Bedouins and Tuaregs, they believe that the city is cursed." Now there was a reaction: a small flinch as Ryou's hand gripped the railing even tighter. "That something evil…no Evil itself is kept there. They talk about a mummy or multiple mummies—the tales change sometimes—protecting the city." Joey _loved_ that story, of course. But it seemed like Ryou seemed to like it just as much as him, for when he talked again his voice was more strained that Yugi had ever heard.

"Oh? And you believe in those tales?" He laughed, clearly indicating that this was supposed to sound light-hearted, a joke, nothing more; but the laughter sounded forced, and the tone of his voice was getting stranger every second. Yugi kept watching him, every warning bell he had ever heard in his head ringing out at once. Something was wrong here, something was dreadfully wrong.

When he spoke again, taking care to sound as free of care as possible, as if he wasn't noticing anything, his words were carefully measured. "No, not really. I've never heard about a real curse, something that can actually kill you, and I spend years in a museum full of mummies without any of them ever showing any inclination to go for a walk."

Unless Tristan took them out for a stroll, of course.

In the corner of his eye he could see Ryou's grip relaxing a bit, and decided that a change of topic towards something safer was highly necessary. He had gotten enough unexpected mysteries to think about already.

"But I believe…no I'm sure one of the most famous books of history is buried there." He grinned up at Ryou. "The golden book of Amun-Ra." All the secret incarnations of the old kingdom, what the Egyptians themselves had believed to be the most powerful magic ever contained and used, were in that book, a treasure worth so much more than any gold laying in Hamunaptra. If he was honest with himself, that book, together with Hamunaptra, had been one of the first things that had interested him about Egypt when he was a child. It had been one of the reasons he had actually followed his grandparents to Egypt gladly, the promise it had carried about a land where magic and mystery were real, where games and puzzles laid just under the sand, guarding power and treasure. Truly a child's fantasy, but Egypt had captured his heart anyway, even when his belief in magic had faded. But it would really be fitting to actually hold the book that started it all.

But whatever he had suspected Ryou to say about that, to ask a question maybe, or to refer the fact that this legendary book was supposed to be made out of pure gold, which was what had really captured the hearts of most people looking for it, and which, from Yugi's humble perspective, seemed to be quite impractical, it wasn't that. There was sudden crunch, and where Ryou's hand had grabbed the railing only seconds before there was nothing but splintering wood falling onto the deck, into the river, and into Ryou's palm.

"Oh, is that so?" Ryou's voice was completely toneless, and in the next second he turned around, and left Yugi behind, open mouthed, and for the first time on this journey, actually frightened.

He stormed down the deck, barely even noticing the splinters burning inside his hands, the ring he wore on a chain in front of his chest glowing like a flame in reaction to his anger. So the boy was looking for the book? Damn it, he should have expected that, should have better controlled himself. Of course he would be interested in it, what else should he look for? Still, to think that the connection was still so strong after all these millenniums… Why couldn't that idiot run after the treasures instead, like every other stupid hunter who had dream-walked into the city and an early grave? But still, that wouldn't change his plans at all, just speed them up a bit. The boy needed to die sooner than that, before some memories actually started to reawaken…and before he ever would get a chance to lay his hands on the book.

"Hey!" In his anger, he had run alongside the boat without looking, barely even noticing where he went. So he didn't realise one of his other sacrifices was there, not till a strong hand descended on his shoulder to stop him in his tracks. "Hey you bastard, I'm talking to you!"

He threw himself around, glaring at the disgusting human who had dared to touch him, which caused the man to actually drop his hand. Good, even if it only served to make the man, Bandit Keith, if he remembered his name correctly, angrier. He was clearly not used to actually being scared by somebody else, and obviously he didn't have the brain cells to realise that staying and confronting him right now was not a bright idea if he valued his survival.

"Damn it man, have you lost your mind? Or forgotten with whom you're dealing!" It was supposed to be threatening, but he could barely keep from rolling his eyes. Too bad he still needed him and his cronies, because otherwise…

"I assure you, it would be impossible to forget that." His words weren't even half as positive and complimentary as Keith obviously took them, but if he wanted to be tone deaf, that was his problem alone.

With an angry smile, Keith nodded. "Good. Try to remember that in the future. So what's up with you and those kids? I saw you talking with Muto. You're not trying to double cross us, are you?"

He nearly laughed; if the whole thing wasn't that important, Keith's self-importance and his plastering would be hilarious. If he was trying to double-cross them? Him? However would he get that idea?

"Why would I? You made it very clear I'm only getting the rest of my money when you're safely back in Cairo, the sole owners of the treasure. I have no reason to risk losing that." Completely true, in a way. He could almost appreciate the smartness of keeping back more than half of his payment, until a safe return home was already accomplished. Too bad money wasn't his goal at all. "Muto just had some questions, that's all." Keith still seemed a bit mistrustful, so he decided to tell him a bit more, to keep all his sacrifices in the game and at each other's throats. "However he was pretty talkative himself. You're right, he and his friends are looking for Hamunaptra themselves."

A triumphant snort escaped Keith's mouth. "Ha, I knew it!" He laughed. "They can try. Let's see who reaches the city first—and who's able to leave it, that's the true challenge after all, right?" With a last laugh full of anticipation, Keith turned around and went back to his companions, never noticing the smile with which he was following his steps.

Oh yes, leaving the city was the true challenge…And if he had his way, nobody on this ship would ever manage that.

Finally back in his cabin, Yugi had tried to get ready for bed, tried to forget, or ignore what happened, to distract himself his grandfather's notes on Hamunaptra, the small notebook in which his grandfather had collected all information and every source he had been able to find on the city. But no matter what, his mind kept wandering back towards the last few moments on the deck and the wood splintering under Ryou's hand. It hadn't even been rotten or anything; he had checked the railing afterwards, once he had actually be able to move again. That wood had been massive, so Ryou shouldn't have been able to put even a dent in it. And yet the destruction was impossible to ignore.

"In 1865 George Bembridge wrote…" He mumbled the words on the page, barely registering anything. "1865 was…" And why had this topic been the one that had caused this anger? The book of Amun-Ra generally didn't cause any aggression, scholarly debates on his actual existence and possible contents not included in that statement. Why would Ryou be angry about that?

"1865…" When Yugi turned around, book in one hand and yesterday's clothes on a hanger in the other, and let them fall to the ground instead of putting them in the closet, a fact which he realised only five steps away, he realised it was time to give up trying. He wouldn't get anything done tonight, not even the simplest tasks, obviously, not with all the questions and the worry knotting themselves into one big tangle in his brain and stomach. Too bad that he was also sure he wouldn't be able to find sleep either because he really could have used that now.

With a sigh he dropped the book on the small table in the cabin and stormed towards his bed, hitting the open window closed a little bit more forceful than necessary. He let himself fall onto his bad, angry, frustrated and scared, and closed his eyes. A faint bang, coming from the window behind him made him roll his still-closed eyes, standing up to shut it again. It took him two steps into the room to realise that the window he had just thrown shut, the one that had just made the noise, had no business of ever making a noise, or actually being open, for he had kept it closed for the whole journey.

Unfortunately at that point he had already a dagger at his throat.

It was beautiful piece of work, curved, and from what he could tell from his privileged close point of view, very, very sharp. The dagger pressed into his skin, just enough that Yugi could appreciate every inch of the edge and the threat those inches contained. Gulping, with his heart racing, and trying desperately not to scream, Yugi carefully and slowly looked up, following the blade and the hand holding it to its wielder.

The first thing he saw was a dark cloak, looking like clothing traditionally found among the Bedouin and Tuareg tribes of the desert, covering nearly every part of his attacker. But his face was visible, and the pair of blue eyes, looking at him with cold anger, conveyed his attackers intentions well enough. He looked like he could kill Yugi right then and there, and would not even waste one thought on that.

"Where is the map?" His voice was a deep rumble, the words spit out harshly, like he hated even wasting on breath on this. Yugi could only blink up at him stumbling one step back, still reeling from what was happening and a bit too frightened to think fast enough to actually answer. Map? What Map? The one to Hamunaptra? But how, why…

Obviously that was the wrong answer, for his attacker tightened his pressure on the dagger, and Yugi could feel a faint cut starting to form, the first drops of blood starting to run down his skin.

"The map!" His attacker's voice was barely more than a hiss now, and Yugi finally managed to recover his own. "I-It's… It's..." He couldn't finish—that was all he could get out—so he turned his head a little bit and gestured towards the table, where the map still lay, right next to the candle and the bag he had kept it and the box in.

His attacker followed his eyes, but still never quite letting Yugi, who was now pressed to the wall of the cabin, out of his sight, or actually lessening the hold on his dagger. "Good." His attackers sounded a bit calmer now, but when he turned his head to look again fully at Yugi, the anger and hate hadn't left his eyes on bit. "And where is the key?"

A key? For a whole second Yugi's mind drew a complete blank. He didn't know about any key, but given how often the word had turned up in his mind and in his conversations during the last few days, he could barely be surprised that the stranger should ask about that too. Too bad for him, and even more so for Yugi, that Yugi absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"Key? What Key? I don't know any…?"

But even while he spoke the words, Yugi suddenly realised that this wasn't, strictly speaking, the whole truth. Pieces of conversations, of his dream of all things started to flitter through his mind. The key to Eden…Tristan's voice, a joke, and yet…the key to the books…the strange voice from his dream, his own sub-consciousness maybe telling him something, and something else, something he hadn't paid any attention too then, but now…

 _My father believed in this key and the map…_ That was what Ryou had said, only this morning at the harbour. This key and the map…Nobody had mentioned a key at this point, nobody had even thought about one. Except Ryou. And damn it, Yugi wasn't trusting him even a little bit now, but he was still sure that if Ryou mentioned the key, mentioned him even before the map, as if this piece of papyrus was only an afterthought, it was definitely important. And then there was his own thought earlier, about the edges of the puzzle box looking like the teeth of a key… Could the box…?

Either way, his stumbling answer couldn't really have been enough for his attacker given the look of annoyance that flew over his face, and Yugi was sure that he was about to lose more blood now—when the door of the cabin suddenly flew open and a shocked voice rang out through the room. "Yugi?!"

Joey's day hadn't really started off great. It wasn't even Tristan's reminder, yet again, just how cursed the city they were travelling to was. No, he had visited his sister early in the morning before he met the others at the harbour. He had just wanted to say goodbye before he left Cairo, and had even faced his mother's reproachful gazes, like always, as if he was responsible for his father's behaviour. But once he had seen Serenity all that family drama hadn't been important any more. She had been so happy to see him, because her sight had been getting even worse now. That meeting may have very well been the last time she would actually be able to see him, and the fucking helplessness, the feeling of not being able to do anything but stand by and watch while his sister was going blind, had nearly killed him. If he didn't get his hands on a lot of money, and soon, it would be too late.

He hadn't really told Yugi because it wasn't really necessary: his friends all knew how bad Serenity's situation was, but that was the other reason he had been willing to face whatever lurked in this tripled damned city. If the here was as much gold as Yugi had hinted, it might just save his sister's eyesight.

Too bad that the Americans he had met on board seemed to have the exact same goal. He had spent the evening playing the them, mostly trying to get some information, but also winning a little bit of money, which was quite welcome, and the result was pretty fucking clear. They were looking for Hamunaptra, they had a very experienced guide, they wanted the gold, all of it, for themselves—and they were armed. Joey had learned that particular detail when they had gotten a bit too angry about his winnings—which were fair and square, by the way; he didn't need to swindle third rate idiots like that—and the alcohol and the anger had formed a dangerous chemical reaction. It had almost felt like home when his father returned late at night and drunk, and angry about the unpaid rent, his inability to find work and everything else he could think about. Before things got too homey and warm, Joey had taken that as his clue to disappear which was when one of them, Zodor, Zygor, Zudor or whatever ponytail's name was, had decided to draw a gun on him and demand his money back.

Alcohol and guns, what a fucking fantastic combination. Which Zordyr had immediately proven when his shot had been so far off that it had actually hit the Nile. Joey had been standing more closely to the wall of the cabins, he couldn't have missed worse if he had tried. Still, that had been his and Tristan's cue to get the hell out of there, which worked after leaving a few blue eyes as a souvenir on his playmates. He and Tristan had then split up, deciding that having two targets might confuse their inebriated pursuers enough that they would be incapable of even following one of them, and so far it had proven true.

Still, Yugi needed to know about the guns, because fuck it, if they were willing to let it come to shooting over a fair card game right on a public river cruise, nobody could tell what they would do in Hamunaptra when there was nothing but sands and the ruins of a city where regularly people disappeared.

He sighed. Of course this adventure had to go south before they even came close to the city. At least it could hardly get worse now. With this uplifting thought Joey throw Yugi's door open, and suddenly found himself looking at a stranger threatening to cut Yugi's throat with a knife.

So much for things not getting worse.

"Yugi!?"

At his shocked scream, both Yugi and the stranger turned their faces towards him. Yugi's eyes were scared, and there was a trickle of blood running down his neck, which was enough to make a veil of red descend over Joey's eyes—but otherwise Yugi still looked ok. When the stranger turned towards him, Joey saw dark golden skin, like the desert sands lightened up by the midday sun, and in a stark contrast a pair of blue eyes, frozen like the ice of the arctic. And a pair of lips curling with distaste, but at this point Joey's attention had already snapped back towards the truly important thing in this picture: the dagger at Yugi's throat.

Before he could react, the stranger turned around, and in one fluent gesture dragged Yugi in front of him like a shield, the dagger still at his throat. At the same moment the window at the riverside of the cabin flew open, and another stranger, dressed similar to Yugi's attacker in dark clothes, appeared, with two guns drawn to fire at Joey. Springing back, Joey bit back a curse. Guns! Did everybody on this damned ship have guns with them? Why hadn't he thought about that?

But ok, if they wanted to play dirty, all right. He had a lot of other tricks up his sleeve, and if those madman appearing like jumping jacks out of a box thought attacking them was easy, they had one hell of surprise coming.

Joey dove aside, away from the next hail of gunfire from the window, and grabbed a small table standing beside the door. The vase on it broke on the floor when he threw the table at the window, but a sudden surprised scream and the sound of wood hitting flesh and something that may have been the splintering of bones proved that his aim couldn't have been that badly off. He didn't stop to check on that however, but turned around to face his other enemy—who of course wasn't where he expected him to be anymore.

Somewhere between the two seconds Joey's little move had taken, his attacker had done the most surprising thing and let go of Yugi. Given that he could have used him as a human shield that didn't make a lot of sense, but given the reactions of everybody in this room now, Joey was sure he was the only one with any sense left in it. And wasn't that a sad conclusion to reach?

Because Yugi, instead of doing the sensible thing and heading straight for the door and away from any knife wielding attackers, as any reasonable person would have done, had made a dive straight for the desk at the wall of cabin, in the exact opposite direction. He grabbed something that lay there, but turned out to be unlucky, for his attacker seemed to have the same or a similar goal. Well, Joey had no idea what hell his friend supposed was worth risking his life for, but he couldn't let the idiot get killed because his survival instincts were non-existent.

So he joined everyone else in letting go of his mind, and threw himself on the knife wielding maniac before he could reach Yugi again.

It was the stupidest thing he could have done; with his enemy wielding a knife, Joey was just giving him ample opportunities to cut his throat, face, fingers and plunge the dagger straight into his heart. But he had the moment of surprise on his side, and a second later, he and his enemy collided, falling in a heap on the floor, joined by the small table the man had just reached for. Metallic clatter filled the room. Yugi's bag, which had rested on the table spilled out beside them, throwing pens, notebooks and even money all around them.

From somewhere far away he could hear Yugi hissing in shock, screaming, "Joey, get out!"

Really, now he got that brilliant idea? Should have heeded his own advice earlier.

But Joey had no time to react, barely any time to think. Something connected with his cheek; he could feel a sharp cut and the smell of blood filled the air. Then the attacker just threw him off, shaking him away as if his was nothing more than one of Cairo's annoying street dogs. That bastard didn't even pay any attention to him, but almost immediately turned around, searching for something on the floor. Joey set up, and only then he realised just why Yugi had screamed out. There was more than the bag which had fallen down.

A candle, which Joey had honestly overlooked, but which must have been on the table too, now lay on its side on the floor, and its flames were already spreading out, covering the floor, part of the coat his attacker wore to conceal himself, and the map, which the knife wielder was grasping for. So that had been his target. Well too bad, it was already fully burning, and in a few seconds there would be nothing left of it but cinders. Whichant, that the attacker found himself in the same danger, even though he recoiled. The flames from his cloak had already started to spread, even though he was still moving, trying to get up on his feet. And given the way those flames took, burning through every inch of the floor, reaching the walls of the cabin, the whole ship wouldn't last long.

Joey jumped to his feet, turning towards Yugi who seemed to be frozen on spot, and started to drag him away. Yugi turned his head once, throwing one last look behind.

"The map!" It took all of whatever was left of Joey's self-control not shake him. Or face-palm. Either of those things.

"The boat is burning down, and that's what you're worried about?!" It may have sounded a little bit more hysterical than he would have liked to, but in his opinion that was fucking justified. Even if the boat burning down may have been his fault. Mostly. Which wouldn't have happened if that asshole behind them hadn't attacked them…

With a twinge of guilt Joey looked behind to see how the man fared, unsure if there was anything they could do, just to see that the bastard obviously didn't need any help at all. Unconcerned with the hell the cabin around him had turned to, untroubled by being on fire himself, the man had risen. He was looking after them, Joey realised, a pair of blue eyes, full of hate and distaste seemed to burn themselves into his own eyes, into his mind. The last thing Joey saw was a hand raising, the almost carless gesture with which the man threw the burning cloak off his shoulder, away from himself, and stepped forward, and that was the point where he and Yugi just turned around and ran.

The cold night air was a shock. Yugi was wearing barely more than his nightclothes, and they offered nothing much in way of protection against the elements. But given their surroundings the cold wouldn't last long. He coughed. Smoke, which seemed to cover every inch of this ship, following them around, settled into his lungs, making breathing a very dangerous chore. His eyes burned; he could barely see anything through them. With one hand he was holding onto Joey, hoping that at least his friend hadn't inhaled quite as much smoke as he had, that, given he was more than a bit taller than Yugi, he was still able to see something. In the other hand, he clenched the one thing he had been able to rescue from the burning cabin, the one thing he had gone back to retrieve from the desk: the puzzle box, which once contained the now lost map to Hamunaptra. Or, as he had started to suspect, a very important key—one, which he couldn't let go or leave behind. He didn't know why, couldn't explain his action even to himself, but in that moment in the cabin there had been one thought crystal clear in his panicked mind: this key was his. His hand grabbed it a little bit tighter, and the edge of the box started to cut into his palms.

He coughed again. From his left he could hear Joey's shouting. "What the hell were you thinking? We should have gotten out way earlier!"

Yugi raised his head, but he couldn't answer. All around them, chaos had broken out, pandemonium in its purest form. Flames and smoke covered everything. The night was filled with the panicked screams of people running past them, and the sound of gunshots. The ones who had attacked Yugi and Joey in his cabin hadn't been the only ones, it seemed, and the Americans had responded on the threat in kind by shooting at them. They actually seemed to be only ones enjoying themselves, having taken cover behind some of the chests and load stored on the deck, hollering and cheering with every shot.

Next to him Yugi could hear Joey snort. "Of course. Too drunk to hit a barn door directly in front of them, but this such a carnival for them." He shook his head. "Americans."

For one second Yugi actually considered pointing out, that, being half-American, Joey might not be the right one to throw this judgment around. But then Joey might not have appreciated hearing that now.

They had nearly reached the front of the ship now, staying close to the cabin walls. The fighting seemed to take place inside those two, whenever they took a step forward, a shot flew through the walls behind them. Yugi pulled Joey aside at the last second, or else a bullet would have hit him.

He shook his head in frustration. "That's not going to end well. We need to get off the ship!" The smoke was getting into his lungs again, making speaking or screaming to be able to be heard over the cacophony around them nearly impossible. "Where's Tristan?"

Joey looked at him for a moment, and Yugi could almost hear the gears in his mind turning. Then he nodded. "Ok, I'll go to look for him, and you get off this ship and to shore." Sensing Yugi protest he raised his hand. "No need for both of us to run around in circles here, and I'm still in better shape than you."

Yugi hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Ok. But keep an eye out for Ryou too."

Joey opened his mouth, probably to protest that, but Yugi held his gaze.

"No, I know, he possibly—" Yugi interrupted himself "—no, definitely works with the Americans, and I've got no idea what he has planned, and there's something very wrong going on with him but, nobody deserves such a death." He sighed. "Not even Kokurano, come to think about that."

Joey sighed. "Great, now I'm looking for two idiots. Ok, I promise I get your two hanger-ons too, but only if you go now."

Yugi looked at him once more, and nodded. "Good luck." A grin flit over his face. "See you guys on shore." And with that he stepped to the railing, threw one glance at the deep, dark water below. He grimaced, imaging the cold that would wait for him there—and jumped, leaving Joey alone on a burning ship.

Joey took a deep breath, and nearly coughed his lung out at the next second. Ok, breathing was a bad idea. Now, somewhere in this chaos Tristan and the other two had to be. Hopefully still alive. It wasn't even that he was worried so much about those strange guys in black, since their main target was off to the shore of the river now. But given the state of the Americans, he wouldn't be surprised if a stray bullet had hit someone it shouldn't. Damn it, there was only one way to be sure. He had to dive into this hell around him and look.

On the other side of the boat, Tristan stumbled over an empty bottle rolling over the deck, and bit back a curse. Fuck this! He could barely see anything in this chaos. He had no idea just why a relatively peaceful evening of running and hiding from Joey's playing partners, which really was nothing more than a usual Tuesday night, had suddenly descended in a mad hell of fire, with strange attackers in black and bullets everywhere, but he really wanted that to stop, now and get off this boat. Too bad that he had no idea where his friends were in their mess.

A couple of voices, a bit more familiar than the panicked screams around him, drew his attention, and crouching lower, holding a sleeve off his jacket over his mouth to protect himself at least a bit from the smoke, Tristan slid along the few remaining boxes on deck, and glanced around them. Only to be disappointed when his eyes fell not on his friend, but on the Americans. He wanted to move on again, when he suddenly heard slow clapping, and another voice joined their talk, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Wasn't that…

"Fine, what a brilliant work. I'm sure you really killed all those walls." Ryou! Well, that answered all lingering questions about him. Only his new friends didn't seem quite so happy to see him either.

"Stop talking, you idiot. I didn't see you taking down someone in this fight." Keith was still wearing his sunglasses, but Tristan didn't need to see his glare, he could practically feel it. "Who's to say you didn't lead those guys onto the ship in the first place? No need to lead dead people to the city."

The way Ryou now looked at him practically oozed contempt. "Those are Medjay, you fool. They wouldn't trust anyone who isn't one of their own. And if I wanted to kill you, there are far easier methods that don't involve me getting trapped on a burning ship." Keith obviously wanted to say something else, but Ryou interrupted him before he could even start. "Now get off this ship if you want to live long enough to see the morning." If looks could kill, he would have dropped dead five times over, but he seemed completely unimpressed both by the glares Keith and his men shot him, as he was by Keith's last farewell.

"Remember, I'm keeping an eye on you, you boneless rat. One wrong step and you're dead." With that he followed his men over board, not noticing how Ryou rolled his eyes at this threat.

Ryou turned around, but wherever he wanted to go now, he didn't reach his goal. He actually barely managed to avoid running into Tristan, who had now built himself up behind him.

"Oh, Tristan. I didn't see you." It was really creepy to watch, how fast Ryou could switch from irritated bastard to nice and a bit surprise guy next door. If Tristan hadn't just heard him now, he would have fallen hard for this little act. Too bad for Ryou that this wasn't going to work ever again.

"Oh yes, I can imagine that. Which is surprising, given that you seem to know just about everyone on this ship."

Ryou blinked up at him, innocence and confusion personified. Damn, that guy was good. "Know everyone on this ship? I don't know what you're talking about."

Tristan didn't even bother to honour that with a response. With one fast step forward, he grabbed Ryou's collar and lifted him off his feet, pressing him against the railing, so that Tristan had to just loosen his grip a bit and his new friend would tumble down into the darkness. "Ok, mate, here's the deal. Either you're going to tell me exactly what game you're playing, or you can have your exit from this ship happen a lot more painful than it has to be. What's your choice?"

For a moment Ryou just looked at him, confusion and fear written on his face. But then, slowly, his lips started to curve upward in a cruel, arrogant smile, and his whole face seemed to change. Gone was the friendly look he normally sported, replaced by a cruel grimace, much like a gargoyle or a similar monster, and Ryou's kind eyes now burned with a hidden, barely contained madness. He threw his head back and laughed, mad, triumphant, and barely human sounding that caused shivers to run down Tristan's spine. _What the hell…?!_

Then Ryou's head suddenly snapped forwards again, and he now grinned directly at Tristan. "What game am I playing? Oh boy… You have no idea, what's going to happen." With that he suddenly threw his upper body forward, head-butting Tristan and kicking him at the same time. Caught by surprise because he was still focused on the boy's frankly creepy declaration, Tristan yelped, and loosened his grip on Ryou. The boy didn't waste this moment to let himself fall back over the railing and into the water. Tristan jumped forward almost immediately, trying to catch him, but his hands grabbed only air. The last thing he saw, before Ryou disappeared in the dark waters of the Nile, was the boy's mad grin, and something golden coming loose under his shirt and dangling a bit above him. Then there was only darkness.

Tristan still stood there, his shaking hands clasping the railing, looking down into the water, when Joey finally found him.

"Hey!" Joey's voice, and his hand on Tristan's shoulder, startled him so much, that he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Damn it, you can't sneak up on someone like that!" The anger felt good after the creepy show just taking place, familiar, like an old and comforting melody. Also it was a good explanation for his reaction, even though Joey looked anything but convinced.

Hands folded over his chest he looked over at Tristan. "Sneaking up! I've been screaming your name for half an eternity already, don't blame me for your deafness!" The response seemed to be just as much habit as Tristan's own head been. In the next moment however, Joey dropped his hands, and looked at his friend with worry. "Are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Tristan laughed. It sounded hollow, even for his own ears. "Not a ghost. Somebody possessed more likely…" He had never really believed in ghost stories and exorcisms, but damn if Ryou's sudden transformation hadn't hit all the beats just now. Watching him really had felt like standing in front of an open grave at midnight and suddenly looking down to see the devil grin up at you. He trailed off and shook his head, remembering again, that the boat was burning down around them. "But we should talk about that later. Where are the others?"

Joey shot him another look, a definitive problem that this talk wasn't done yet, and nodded. "Yugi's already taking a swim. With you here that means only Ryou and this stage show prophet are missing."

Tristan could barely hide a shudder. "Ryou's' already gone too." Again, his voice sounded way to hollow. He cleared his throat before he continued, trying to shake the image of this face, this pure madness from his mind. "Ditto your gambler friends. So make that only Kokurano."

Joey took a deep breath. "Okay, that's good." He looked over at Tristan. "Do you want to go too? I've got a lot of practice navigating this chaos already, I can take a last look if I can find our costume loving friend."

Tristan nodded. "Ok, but you don't waste time here. This sip isn't going to hold on much longer." He was about to jump the railing, when Joey held him back.

"Wait!" Yugi went that way!" He pointed over his shoulder, to the other side of the ship. "We really shouldn't end up on different sides of the river."

Tristan sighed, nodded, and finally jumped the railing, on the right side this time. Leaving Joey to find the last member of their happy crew alone.

Shaking his head Joey turned around. Great. This evening was turning weirder and weirder every second. First this black-clothed assassin and now Tristan was acting weird too. He just wanted to get off this ship, and ideally back to Cairo. Too bad he had a feeling Yugi wouldn't agree. And he was right, they couldn't leave his grandfather to rot on the desert. The old man had offered his home to Joey when he needed it; he had spent as much time at Yugi's grandparents' house has he had at Tristan's. He owed him more than he could ever repay.

And Yugi was right. Nobody deserved such a death as the fire offered. He had to make at least some effort to find Kokurano. So, on to the breach once more. Hopefully the landlord with delusions of grandeur was still running around somewhere and not trapped in one of the burning cabins.

For once in his life, Lady Luck seemed actually to be on his side. Maybe she finally decided to cut him a break after this terrible day, or she had found another victim to play with, and thus turned her attention away from Joey. Even if the way luck caught up with him really was typical for him. At the first corner he turned around, Kokurano crashed into him, coming from the opposite direction.

A lot of his usual habit had disappeared. The diverse symbols of faith were nearly completely gone, just like most of his clothes. The fire must have startled him up from his sleep; apart from his richly decorated cloak, under which the edges of a nightshirt were visible, Kokurano only wore a couple of rings with relatively small stones the size of a small coin, and only one necklace. His hair hang loose and wild around his shoulders, and he had the same look in his eyes, when he finally sighted Joey.

"Oh finally, one of the treasure hunting idiots. What are we going to do?! This is all your fault!"

Admittedly, he was right about the last sentence, so much that Joey, still seeing the candle falling in his mind, actually considered that the guy might have some sort of power. Then he told himself to get a grip and remember that Kokurano was the type to blame everyone but himself when something went wrong. It was just dumb luck that he was right this time. And actually, the assassin was to blame! If he hadn't tried to kill Yugi, Joey wouldn't have attacked him, and that damned candle would have never have cause to fall in the first place! Not that this was important right now.

He looked at Kokurano before him, glaring at him in his ridiculous get up with his hands planted on his hips, and he felt just so tired. Everything about this night, from the card game with the Americans to the black-clad assassin and then Tristan's strange behaviour mixed together—and fuck it, he didn't have the energy to deal with this idiot now on top of it. Especially if he was asking foolish questions.

So Joey just looked at him. "You'll stay here. I'll go and get help." The last thing he saw before he jumped the railing was the idiot nodding. Oh well, he wasn't that stupid, surely. He would figure that bout of sarcasm out. Hopefully. Then Joey hit the waters of the Nile, and there was no room in his head for more thoughts except two: swim and cold.

On the burning deck of the ship Kokurano turned around, the stopped right in the middle of his movement. With an irritated sigh and an eye roll, his shoulders sagged down as he realised just what the blond bastard had said. Getting help… Oh, very clever. With a shake of his head, he jumped over the railing himself.

The Nile was anything but an easy river to cross: broad, and with the clouds now fully covering the moon, it was nearly impossible to see far ahead. Yugi was beyond tired when his feet and arms finally hit ground again, and as he dragged himself onto the shore, he promptly collapsed into the sand. After a few deep breaths, with his lungs burning and his heart beating so fast he was sure it would burst any second, he sat up again. Yes, he was tired, and straight out of the water as he came, his wet nightclothes sticking to his body in a decidedly uncomfortable way, it felt like he could freeze at any second, but he needed to look out. There had been other people on the boat, his friends were still there. He needed to see if they had made it to safety. And on which side of the river he had actually landed. It wasn't easy to orient himself on the stars, he didn't have a lot of practice in that, but his knowledge was enough to figure out the cardinal directions, and a relieved smile appeared on his lips. Good, he had landed on the west coast. That would save them a river crossing at least.

He sat down on the sand again, shivering and waiting. His friends had to appear soon, he knew it. In his hands he still clenched the puzzle box, that mysterious key, to his chest.

He should stay alone on the shore for long. Different people, members of the ship's crew and some passengers Yugi recognised seeing on board, soon approached the land, some of them even bringing a bit of the ship's cargo and their own possessions with them. On the other shore in the distance Yugi could see movement too, and someone shouting. But it didn't look like his friends were there.

Tristan's arrival—sputtering and spitting and cursing the water, the fire and crazy Americans—came in the nick of time, just when Yugi had started to lose hope and let fear and guilt over take his thoughts. And soon after that, Joey arrived, followed by a very irritated Kokurano, who just shot Yugi an accusing look before he went off to wring his coat out. On the other side of the river Yugi could see a glimpse of white, and Ryou walking along the shore, talking to one of the Americans.

It was Bandit Keith, who suddenly looked up sharply, somehow still holding on to those sunglasses, right across the river to them. He raised his hands and shouted. "Hey Muto! Looks like we got all the horses! Good luck with crossing the desert on foot!" It was true: all around him, the horses the ship had transported had climbed on land. Mad with fear, they shied away from anyone, nearly running into each other at times, but them being there gave the Americans a pretty decent advantage. Or would have, if only…

Yugi didn't have time to answer Keith. With an angry growl, Joey, still kneeling on the sand, dripping water everywhere and trying to catch his breath, suddenly jumped up, and turned around to shout. "Hey, assholes. Looks like you're on the wrong side of the river!" Only to stop, blink and look towards Yugi next to him. "Ah, they are on the wrong side, right?"

Yugi had to bit on his lips to hide a smile, and nodded. "Yes. They are." And it would set them back for quite a while. The Nile was a very broad river, and unfortunately for them, there weren't any bridges crossing it. The Americans, and Ryou too, would have to travel up the river for miles until they found and ferry or something similar to take them and the horses across. And by the sudden frenzy and the loud cursing that broke out on the other side, they were becoming aware of that too.

Yugi and his friends didn't linger around after that. They grabbed whatever useful things were cast ashore by the waves, and set out to try and find some human settlement where they could rest and maybe buy back some of the things they had lost. Clothes, mostly, that was the most important thing now.

Still, before they departed, and barely hearing Joey's and Tristan's discussion, Yugi turned his head to look back at the group on the other side to the river. He could have sworn that Ryou was looking over to him, and while he couldn't see his face in the distance, a shiver, like somebody walking over his grave, passed over Yugi's spine. Yugi turned away, and tried to look forward, towards the next step in the journey again. But the feeling followed him for a long time.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

They had been lucky. After travelling through the rest of the night, and leaving the river's shore once Yugi was sure that he could recognise the mountains in the distance well enough from his memory of the map, they had stumbled over a Tuareg camp. Admittedly, Joey had watched everybody who approached them here mistrustfully since they all seemed to wear the same dark robe their attackers on the boat had worn. Yugi couldn't help but feel for him; he himself had to try and not flinch whenever somebody approached him. But those dark robes were sadly worn by just about every tribe in the desert, being a good protection against the sun and the sand. They could just as well be afraid of their own shadows.

And the people in this camp truly were friendly. There was no question about taking them in once they saw the sorry state they were in. Food and water, such a rare and precious commodity in the desert, were shared freely and gladly, and there was not even a question about paying for the clothes they needed. Though Yugi had to endure some teasing questions from the women as to why he was trying to cross the desert in his underwear. However, when it came to the camels they would need for the rest of their journey, their hosts turned over a different page. Oh, they stayed friendly, keeping a wide smile, all the while proclaiming with a straight face that those camels were the pride of the tribe, just like their own children, and they couldn't just part with them for strangers; that even if they were esteemed and honourable guests, thus practically being family themselves, Yugi would, in his generosity, understand of course.

Yugi understood, and he had seldom had as much fun haggling for something as he had for those camels. The fact that they didn't have a lot to offer was a problem, but in the end he and this tribes sheik got to a mutual, agreeable deal. The old man laughed out loud when they came to a conclusion, and offered Yugi and his friends another cup of tea, the traditional way of finishing business. It was truly a pity, they couldn't linger any longer.

Joey was restless already when they left, complaining about the time they had lost here since Yugi's haggling had taken up quite a bit of the day, and about his camel. The animal did seem to have it in for him admittedly, since it had taken one look at him, and then immediately spit into his face. Tristan had laughed so much he had nearly fallen off his own camel, which really didn't help Joey's mood.

But when Joey now urged his camel to move a bit faster, which it did with visible dislike, and turned his head towards Yugi, the question he asked was one Yugi himself had wondered about.

"Now what? We have those beastly animals, and thanks to those guys back then you're sure where we are. But even if you remember the map correctly and we get close to Hamunaptra, what happens then? You said yourself, there's more to this city than meets the eye."

Next to him Tristan nodded. "That's why you wanted to take Ryou along in the first place."

Yugi just nodded, trying to hide the wince his friends' words caused. Yes, he knew that already, had had the same thoughts almost constantly since last night. And his solution was…a bit of a work in progress, admittedly.

"I know." His words were mixed with a sigh. "But I also know where we have to go—the map was astonishingly clear about the part of the desert were we should find Hamunaptra. And once there…" He stopped, and took a deep breath, for this was the part where he basically started to rely on pure luck. "The Americans must have found a way to cross the river by now. They are led by Ryou, so chances are that we will reach the place where the city should be at the same time as them. And if we do that"—he shrugged— "when Ryou does whatever needs to be done to find the city, it will be open to us too."

His friends reaction was exactly what he had expected. Tristan groaned; while Joey looked at Yugi like he had suddenly grown two heads, or declared Kokurano—who was riding ahead of them and letting out a constant stream of complains, about the sun, the heat, the sand, the camels, the time, the people helping them, and Yugi and the others—his new best friend.

"Have you lost your fucking mind? That's your big plan? Wait and hope that the others open the city for us? What if they are already there? What if they still take days to get there? What if they shoot us instead of letting us in the city?" He was almost shouting at this point, gesticulating madly with one hand in Yugi's direction. "And don't forget the other guys from the boat." A shiver ran through Joey. "That guy in your cabin didn't look like he would let a failure rest if you know what I mean. I don't want to wait around somewhere in the desert, wondering if they catch up with us."

It was good point, and Yugi turned his head and bit his lips instead of answering. It took all of his self-restraint to keep his hands holding the reins from shaking. It was a more than a desperate move, he knew that. They had next to nothing, just the hope of a good timing, and the key, which now rested in his bag. But he couldn't fail, couldn't turn around now. He had come too far, too close to his grandfather.

"I know. But I see no other way." He threw his friends and apologetic smile. "If you have another idea, I'm all ears. It's just…we are so close, and I can't give up now. Not when…" He couldn't finish his sentence. The thoughts about what might have happened with his grandfather, and what state he would find him, had haunted him since Cairo, and he had just as resolutely refused to pay attention to them. It was all right. His grandfather was well and alive, and he would find him.

Under Joey's and Tristan's compassionate gazes he drove his camel to go a bit faster.

It was strange, but the closer they got to where Hamunaptra may have been once, the more familiar their surroundings seemed to be. They hadn't spoken a lot after the short talk on the way; apart from sharing water, and Kokurano's never ending chorus of complaints, now intermixed with Hymns about his own greatness, it had been a silent, seemingly endless journey. But they made some way. Yugi could see the landscape change subtly, and suddenly there was this sureness—this rock strong certainty—that they were on the right way. He couldn't even name it clearly, couldn't say from where it came from, only that he somehow knew.

They had rested once, slept during the midday heat and only resumed their journey on the late afternoon, shortly before nightfall, to ride the whole night through. At their rest, a mountain range had first become visible at the horizon, and Yugi had taken one look at it and just known that Hamunaptra lay behind it. Now the night was soon ending, they sky turning from black to blue into a deep, dark red, the first hints of morning. They had travelled through a Wadi through the mountain ridge, a Wadi Yugi had known about before he had even seen it, and an endless plain of desert sand now lay beyond them.

Yugi shuddered for a moment, his breath stopped short, and he was sure that this was where Hamunaptra lay. Even if this surety was slowly starting to scare him. It had all felt a bit like a dream for the last few hours, like retracing a way he had always known and walked so many times with the sureness of a sleepwalker, and barely even thinking about it. Now he was slowly waking up, and seeing his dream to be not a dream at all was unsettling.

He was turning around, looking unsurely at his friends, ready to tell them what had been going on with him for the last few hours, even if he was sure it would just freak out Joey more, when Tristan exhaled sharply.

"Well, damn me, we may actually be right." He nodded to a point behind Yugi. "We've got company."

Yugi turned to his side again, and true, just as Tristan had said: they came from the opposite direction, but still, they unmistakably the Americans, with Ryou riding in front of them. And they were not alone. It seemed like an army accompanied them, full of workmen and diggers. They definitely came prepared for an excavation. So this was the right place. The realisation just filled Yugi with more dread. What was going on? How could he…? He didn't have time to think.

From the back of his restless camel, Joey nodded at the newcomers. "Good morning." His greeting barely netted him anything but threatening looks and low grumbles. But the Americans didn't seem in the mood to pick a fight either. They just followed Ryou, who had turned his own camel around to look over the plain before him; and next to Yugi, who was already looking with a painfully fast beating heart, in this direction. Then Ryou stopped/ One on one they all fell in line next to them, and grew still too, waiting.

For a while, nothing was heard but the sound of the wind while the sky slowly turned brighter and brighter. It was one of the Americans who broke the silence first—the small one, with the sunken in cheeks. "What the hell are we doing here? Staring at a stripe of sand till we all turn blind?"

Yugi could practically see how Ryou grind his teeth together.

"Patience. We wait as long as we must." He spit those words out, barely even glancing at his companions.

On his horse, Zygor leaned forward, and grinned over at Yugi and his friends. "Hey, while we wait, why don't we take a bet? 500 dollars for the first to reach Hamunaptra?"

Yugi just shot him an irritated glance, determined not to honour this with more of an answer. Mostly because 500 dollars was far beyond anything they still had with them, after the catastrophe at the boat and the price for the camels.

Unfortunately Joey didn't seem to remember that. "Deal! Can't wait to relieve you of more of your money." His determined look was met with howling laughter from the Americans, and an eye roll from Tristan.

"You're the one who's going to pay this time!"

While the Americans and Joey exchanged their pleasantries, Tristan bowed over towards Yugi. "But seriously, the guy over there has a point. What the hell are we waiting for here?"

At first Yugi didn't answer. His eyes were too busy following the rise of the sun, which just started to break over the horizon and send its first rays over the desert. When he spoke he wasn't even sure the words were his own, for all he knew them to be true. "To be shown the way."

Tristan shot him a very concerned look, but Yugi couldn't have explained his words to him of he tried. It was like chasing a shadow, a piece of knowledge always just outside of the reach of his thoughts which would turn up the moment whatever it revered to came to pass. He had had the same feeling with the mountain range, and it held true with the sun too.

The sun rose, slowly and steady over the horizon and with every ray of light the air in front of them begin to simmer more and more like a mirage. Yugi could hear murmurs around him, exclamations of astonishment and more than one claim of magic, but he barely noticed any of that. His eyes were fixed on the buildings, which materialised in front of them, from top to bottom, right out of the mirage. Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, visible only to those who watched it appear with Ra's first light.

It wasn't even just a city, Yugi could see a whole stone plateau behind it, cradling the backside of the city and protecting it from any approachers from that direction. His hands shook as he lifted his reins. How was this even possible? He wasn't surprised as much as he knew that he should be. Next to him he could hear Tristan curse, and Joey groan.

"Oh god, this is starting perfectly. No curses. Hmm? Then what the hell is that?"

He had to agree with Joey. This seemed to be magic, a city appearing right out of this air—and he should have been a lot more surprised. But there had to be an explanation for that, and for everything else, and he didn't have time to figure it out now, for apparently, a race was on.

The appearance of the city had worked as a start sign for at the same time, as if a spell had been lifted from all of them, Joey, Yugi and Tristan drove their camels forward, while the Americans urged their horses on. Screams and exclamations of impatience filled the till-now so silent morning air, and under the now well-lit sky horses and camels were tied in a close and desperate race to the city. It soon became clear that the camels were an excellent advantage in this terrain. Through not native to this desert, and living here a much shorter time than their equally non-native horse colleagues, they were born to run on sand.

True, it was Ryou on his camel, who was far ahead of everyone, but Tristan wasn't far behind him, and drew even with him after a few seconds. He and Ryou race for a while side to side, almost dangerously close, till suddenly Ryou raised the whip used to drive the camels forward and started to hit Tristan with it. The first hit was such a surprise that Tristan could hardly realise what was happened, and the second came so fast he barely had time to raise his arm to protect his face. Glancing under the protection offered by his raised hand, he could see Ryou grinning at him with the same demon-like grimace he had seen on the boat and he heard his voice, barely above a whisper.

"I still own you one for the boat."

The blows kept coming, wilder and more erratic every second, as if Ryou was losing more and more control—and then Tristan had enough. He hit back with his arm, which was like flatting at flies he had to admit, and managed to grasp Ryou's collar. In one move he hoisted him off his camel, and riding a bit aside to put some distance between the animals, let him drop quite unceremoniously on the ground.

Yugi passed Ryou by just as he was slowly struggling back at his feet, with a murderous look on his face. Looking down on him, Yugi couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction, even if he felt guilty for that.

"Serves you right."

A few seconds later he had caught up with Tristan. It was a fantastic feeling he had to admit: the sun high in the sky, the wind in his hair, Hamunaptra before him, and everybody else far far behind. For a moment everything—his worry for his grandfather, Ryou's concerning behaviour, the strange feeling he had, of knowing the way, knowing the city—all seemed to lay behind him. There was nothing but the sky, the wind and the sand.

He shot Tristan a happy smile as he passed him, urging his camel on, and maybe the animal was taken by the same feelings, or maybe it just enjoyed the race, because it threw its head back and suddenly sped forward faster than Yugi had ever expected. He lost his balance for the moment, only to sit upright the next moment again. Far behind him he could here Joey's triumphant laughter.

"Go, Yugi!"

Yugi's grin just got brighter. He couldn't disappoint his friends, now could he? Especially within the first wall of the city, or the small rising which was left of it before him. He dashed forward, through a small opening where once might have been a gate or a door, with Tristan on his heels, and despite the race being over he couldn't help but take the strays, leading up to some higher walls and opening through them, by gallop too. When he finally stopped, breathless, to pat his camel's neck, he was laughing. The animal threw his head back, clearly proud of its achievement, and Yugi answered with a big smile. It deserved to be proud, yes. Only then, when he heard the others slowly arriving behind him, did he raise his head and look around, enjoying his first look of the ruins of a legendary city.

It was in a remarkably good condition. True, it was in ruins, and stones and columns which once may have formed buildings laid strewn around the whole structure but he could also clearly see some remains of the pathways, which once upon a time lead through the city, and some of the buildings and structures were still standing, and looked to be quite stable too. In its heyday it must have been a truly majestic city, covering quite a wide terrain. Even now the buildings left standing revoked a sense of awe, even though it somehow had managed to become the home of a whole lot of camels that wandered around aimlessly and uncaringly about their new visitors. Looking at them gave Yugi an uneasy feeling, since the most likely explanation for them remaining behind after the deaths of other adventurers hunting for Hamunaptra was anything but positive. But within Hamunaptra, what lay under the earth was far more important and far reaching than what lay above ground.

But there was no sign of his grandfather anywhere. Far of in the distance, Yugi could see a statue still standing—a statue seemingly made with the head of what looked like a dog or a jackal—and a grin flashed over his face. He knew exactly where to start in his search, where his grandfather would have started his. He just had to retrace his steps. And this time he actually knew where his knowledge was coming from.

It was actually quite easy to divide territory between Yugi's group and the Americans. Mostly because the city was so vast, it was easy not to cross each other. But also because Bandit Keith, with the advice of the last member of the group—a thin, tall young men with wild red hair and glasses, who turned out to be a British Egyptologist—claimed part of the city as his terrain, and had made it quite clear that Yugi and his friends shouldn't even get near there if they knew what was good for them.

The fact, that none of them made any move to do such a thing however, and instead had quite happily gone off to start their work in the distance, unsettled him a bit. With his forehead creased in winkles he looked over to Sid. The Egyptologist was busy ordering the workers around but he still looked up when Keith addressed him.

"What the hell are they doing over there? Do they know something we don't?"

A patronizing smile appeared on Sid's lips. "Please. They are led by a child. What can they know?"

Almost halfway across the city, with his friends working around him to set up and clear off what he indicated to, Yugi was excitedly explaining just what he knew. "This is a statue of Seth. Its legs go deep underground. According to the Bembridge scholars, that's where we are going to find a secret compartment containing the golden book of Amun-Ra."

Letting the god of chaos, the desert and storms, watch over the book of life and sunlight… Nobody could say the Egyptians didn't have some sense of humour. And it was really strange, placing a statue of this particular god so far south. Seth was a very complicated god, and while Seti I did carry him in his name, Seth's many worship grounds had always been in the delta, in Lower Egypt. Here, in Upper Egypt, which was traditionally Horus' part of the country, it didn't make much sense. Still, Seth was Ra's protector against Apophis…

And this would surely be the first place his grandfather would have looked. Yugi had seen the first traces of him already, ancient mirrors which were a lot cleaner than they should have been, covered only by a small sheet of sand, not buried deep. His grandfather had uncovered them, he was sure of that. He had been here.

Turning around he gestured towards Joey who was pointing his mirror in the entirely wrong direction. "Joey, you're meant to catch sunlight with that." It was hard to keep his excitement, the laughter bubbling up inside him out of his voice. The enjoyment of the desert race hadn't left him yet, and with the first signs of his grandfather being here, he felt surer than ever that he was right. His grandfather was alive, and he would find him.

Tristan, being locked in a tiny fight with an exceptional uncooperative mirror, blinked up against the sun towards Yugi. "So, uh, what exactly are we doing with these old mirrors?"

The grin on Yugi's face grew brighter, and his eyes sparkled. "Ancient mirrors. It's an Ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see." It would be quite a surprise for his friends if they worked exactly as he suspected. He just couldn't deny himself the pleasure of keeping a few surprises to himself.

A few steps in the distance, watching the ground and the ruins around him suspiciously and not lifting a finger to help them, Kokurano snorted at his words, and kicked a small stone with his foot. "Mirrors, pah! Every stage magician can do tricks with that. The powers are so much greater." He glared over at the ruins, not noticing how Yugi rolled his eyes behind his back, and how Joey blew a raspberry at him. "Better keep an eye out for bugs. I hate them!"

Yugi nodded. "Duly noted." He had forgotten Kokurano almost as soon as the words left his mouth, because now the mirrors were finally in position. "Ok, let's get down there!" He pointed towards a small crevice in the ground, ignoring Joey's groan.

Yugi was the first to let himself down on the rope they had tied, a bit respectlessly he had to admit, around the feet of the Seth statue. In front of him a deep dark cave seemed to open up, the light from the hole above was the only thing that pierced the darkness. But it was enough to find what he was looking for, just as expected. Everything was exactly in its place, with angles and positions calculated thousands of years ago still holding true today. It was enough to be in awe about.

He turned towards his friends excitedly. "You realise, apart from my grandfather and Ryou's father, we are the first people to enter this room in more than a thousand years?"

Somehow, none of them shared his enthusiasm, with Kokurano wrinkling his nose. "Who cares? I see no treasure here?"

Yugi stifled a sigh, while Tristan, holding a torch, turned to look around. "Well, you can have my share of the spiders, if you want."

Joey shook his head, drawing his face into a grimace of disgust. "And what is that god-awful smell?" He turned around, sniffing for the source, and the suddenly stopping in front of Kokurano. He sniffed again, his eyes widening, and then stepped suddenly back, obviously realising where the offending smell came from.

It took all of Yugi's strength not to bury his head in his hands. Really, this momentous occasion was clearly wasted here. He bent down to retrieve the bronze disk he had spotted earlier from the floor, and brushed off the sand collected on it. Just as the mirrors above, it was in a far cleaner condition than it should have been, with no cobwebs on it and clear signs of having been brushed off earlier than a thousand years already. Yugi's heart pounded a bit faster. Another clue- that meant his grandfather _had_ to be here. He was sure of that now.

He stepped closer to a pedestal near to the ray of light coming from the hole in the caves ceiling, and repositioned it a bit. Just a few inches more.

"And then there was…" He snapped the bronze disk into place. "Light!" On his last word, the bronze disk caught the rays of the sun the outer mirrors threw into the chamber. It reflected it off, towards another mirror, father away, and another and another, until the whole chamber they stood in was awash with light, with the last mirror shooting the light down one of the passages leading out from the chamber, away from their sight.

With a proud smile Yugi stepped back, resisting the urge to bow like a magician after a successful trick. His friends' astonishment was fitting enough for that after all.

Joey let out a whistle. "Neat trick." He looked around the room, drawing in the big rectangular stone pedestals forming neat lines in the room. A few metallic instruments lay near them, and a small depression was carved out in each of them. "So where are we exactly?"

Yugi barely heard his friends question, looking around wide eyed. "Oh my god, it's a _sah-netjer_! I didn't think there would be one left in the city."

Tristan shot him a slightly weary look. "Ok, I'm sure I'm going to regret asking that, but what the hell is a sah-netjer?"

Next to him Joey joined in. "And why wouldn't it be here?"

Yugi turned towards his friends. "It's a preparation room. For entering the afterlife." Something like understanding, and a very wicked glint appeared in Tristan's eye, while Joey still looked at Yugi confusedly. Though there was hint of apprehension in his eyes too, a sign that he might suspect what was lurking in Yugi words.

"Huh?"

With a wide grin, Tristan clasped his hand on Joey's shoulder. "Mummies, my dear friend. This is where they made the mummies!"

Joey shook off Tristan's hand, and took several steps back from the stone pedestal, eying them now as if they would split up and let out a swarm of mummies at him every minute. Yugi shot him a sympathetic look.

"That's true. This is where the dead were prepared for their journey to the afterlife." Placing such a room at the feet of Seth, the one who had killed and cut up Osiris, the ruler of the dead, which lead to the first mummification ever, performed by Seth's son Anubis, the god of mummification and embalming, to save Osiris from endless death and restore his body, to make him able to rule the afterlife, was very ironic indeed.

"And for the other question…" He turned around, to take one more good look at the room. "Hamunaptra was a holy city, a place for pharaohs and high priests of Osiris. Being buried here was the greatest honour anyone could receive back then. There were only a few people in the whole history of Egypt who ever received that honour, but"—he had to take a deep breath—"even for those few, you'd need people to bury them, to prepare them for that. And if nobody knew where the city was located, the easiest way to assure that secrecy would be killing the people who prepared and buried those honoured here. And then to kill the soldier who killed them, to assure their silence too."

It was a dark and bloody aspect of Hamunaptra's history, and Yugi hated even to speak about it. "However, just like with the servants accompanying the early rulers into the afterlife, the Egyptians soon realised that this was a very big waste of human life. Killing a hundred people or so with each burial is anything but practical."

Ok, that was bit of dark humour, admittedly, but how else would he be able to tell the story? "So at the beginning of the Old Kingdom they stopped burying people in Hamunaptra altogether. Like I said, there are very few people buried in the city." If the number came close to five or so, he would be very astonished.

Yugi stepped forward to one of the pedestals and let his fingers glide lightly over the stone. "I wonder why they still kept they room here open..." And the instruments lying at this pedestal…they were made with iron, a material not available to the Egyptians until the new kingdom. It was the only pedestal in the room which had such instruments too, as far as he could see at a glance. Did another mummification happen here so much later into Egypt's history than the others? But why?

Joey shivered. "Ok, thanks for this ghost story, I really needed a reason to dislike this room even more. Can we move on now?" He was clearly uncomfortable, and Yugi could understand that. It was not the best room to linger in, not with such a bloody backstory. With a nod to his friend he left the pedestal behind, and followed the passage pointed at by the ray of light from the mirrors. It showed them the way after all—

Too bad said ray of light ended after a few couple of meters. Guided only by the light of their torches they moved on, through a tunnel, which grew narrower and colder every second. Cobwebs littered their way, and Yugi could feel a shiver race down his spine. With these temperatures, it was hard to believe that they were only a few meters under the heat of the desert. The layers of stone Hamunaptra was built on offered a very good heat protection. With the tunnel being this small, most of them had to crouch down to be able to move forward without hitting their head; Yugi only had to bow forward slightly, and Kokurano had no trouble at all, but he could hear Joey and Tristan cursing.

It grew even darker around them, and from the distance, a noise could be heard. Yugi stopped for a second to listen. It was strange, a low, screeching sound, like someone, or something, moving or clawing inside the walls around them. Shaking his head Yugi tried to push that thought away. It was probably just bugs and other insects; these tunnels must have been full of them.

After a few more meters the tunnel widened again, expanding into a cave. In front of them, Yugi could see the feet of the Seth statue, marking his orientation point. So close…somewhere here the book of Amun-Ra must be buried. But there were no signs of anybody else digging here, or even passing through. Worried he looked around, but what he saw all pointed in the same direction. Nobody had passed through here in thousands of years. If his grandfather had been here, he had left no traces behind. But where else could he have gone? There had only been this tunnel marked by the ray of light; it was not like somebody would have moved the mirror…

The same sound as before, the scratching rose again, only louder this time, and closer. Joey and Tristan drew closer to him, while Kokurano hastened through the room and ducked behind Seth's feet to hide. The sounds came from the other side of the statue, almost directly next to them and in the next moment Joey and Tristan stepped forward, with Joey drawing Yugi behind him, because something jumped out from the passage near the statue.

It took them all a second to recognise Bandit Keith and the other Americans, guns drawn. Given that they raised their guns a bit higher, only to lower them slightly after a few tense seconds, they must have had the same moment of misconception.

"Fuck, you guys really got a surprise jump on us." The words were friendly, but the way Keith said them sounded almost like a threat.

Joey grinned, with just as much friendliness. "Same with you, mate." Neither he nor Tristan ever relaxed or step back, and the Americans made no motion of putting their guns away.

Keith's grin got a bit wider. It reminded Yugi of the saying that animals just bared their teeth as a sign of threat. "Sorry to say, but…this is our statue here…mate." His last word couldn't have sounded more threatening if he tried, even though he still spoke in a low, even voice.

Joey just snorted. "Oh yeah? I don't see you name written on it."

Keith laughed. "Oh well, that can be arranged." At his words Ryou, accompanied by five of their workers, stepped out of the shadows, all of them with guns drawn. "I'm really sorry." Ryou's voice sounded just like he had been at the hotel, friendly and calm. It made his wired, manic grin even more unsettling. "But with 10 guns to..." He chuckled. "Zero, your odds don't look good."

Joey balled his hand into a fist, and given the look on his face he clearly wanted to put it to Ryou's face. "I've had worse." Awfully brave, but fists really weren't a match for guns, even when Tristan stepped up next to him, in pretty much the same posture.

"So have I."

Yugi suppressed the wish to roll his eye. Great, just great. If they all went on like this, the air would be riddled with bullets soon. And in this room, with the walls so close, it would mean all of them, including the Americans and Kokurano, would be hit by the stray bullets. Yeah, not a situation he wanted to get into. Since he seemed to be the only one not yet dreaming about settling this soon, he need to calm this situation down, and fast.

With a charming smile, and the slight feeling that he was thrown back into a class of kindergarten kids with very dangerous toys, he stepped between the two groups. "Ok, let's all calm down and be nice." He just managed to stop himself from adding the word children, assuming that Keith and his friends probably wouldn't appreciate being called that. Slowly and carefully he pushed the gun of the smallest American, Bonz, down, and at the same time pushed Joey back a bit. "If we are to play together, we need to learn to share. This city has enough digging space for all of us."

Keith looked more than annoyed at his words, and Yugi could hear Joey mumble angrily under his breath, but the other Americans laughed, and their weapons were slowly put down. Using this moment of peace, Yugi dragged Joey, who was still glaring daggers at Keith and Ryou, away, followed by Tristan and Kokurano. Too bad about the book, but as much as it hurt Yugi to leave it for them, it was not their main goal, and it was definitely worth a lot less than their lives. Over his shoulder he could see Sid starting to translate the hieroglyphs, and yes, that stung. But he had meant what he had said. There were other places to look. And if he wanted to find his grandfather...eh, he probably would have to search the whole city. He could continue elsewhere. Also, he had seen a passage leading down back then, and if he was right about where it lead…a sly smile appeared on his lips…well, maybe the Americans would find quite a surprise when they came looking for the book.

A couple minutes later they were in another room, even deep down than the room with the statue. Joey and Tristan were working with sledgehammers against the ceiling, while Yugi focused, with the aid of a chisel, on the finer work. He was still smiling.

"If my calculations are right, we should be directly under the statue now. We will come up right between his legs." He coughed, and laughed, as he realised how exactly his last words sounded.

Joey nodded. "So when those bastards sleep, we sweep in and steal the book right under their noses, right?"

Yugi nodded, while Tristan looked back at him.

"And you're sure you can find the secret compartment?"

Yugi smiled again. "Yep, pretty sure. If my grandfather or their Egyptologist haven't already found it." That was always a risk, but he was sure, the same conviction and sureness that had led him over the last miles of the desert to Hamunaptra, that this part of the city was still untouched. Also, it felt right to be here, at this place, as if that was the heart of the city, the heart of something Yugi had looked for his whole life without realising what it was. The stone even felt warm under his touch, despite the cold around them.

Joey sighed. "Well, that's an optimistic thought." Then he looked up, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him. "Hey, where'd our Christmas tree of a friend disappear to?" Yugi and Tristan both looked up from their work in surprise. True, Kokurano hadn't said anything for a while. Just when had he disappeared?

A few passaged away Kokurano crawled through another narrow tunnel. Nothing but cobwebs and dirt and sand. And this was supposed to be the legendary city of Hamunaptra? Where was the gold, the treasures, the riches of Egypt? Let the little idiot and his friends dig through the dust, for all they want. He would claim his own share. And if it was more than the twenty-five percent he was due, well, nobody needed to know that, now did they? Accidents were bound to happen in such an old place. He just needed the camels to get away with his treasure from here; the way back couldn't be that hard to find.

The passage in front of him grew wider, and he could stand up again, to find himself in a long corridor. The light of his torch flickered over a mural. It depicted a man, in a position completely unusual for Egyptian art. His hands were thrown up, just like his head, and his face showed a look of deep agony. Agony wasn't something the Egyptians pictured a lot, for to paint something, in their minds, was to create something, to make it real—its own kind of magic. And they didn't want to create suffering. Even demons or unlucky animals were sometimes drawn cut in two, to break their power. But it was not like Kokurano would know how unusual that scene was, and if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.

For the torso of the figure was inlaid with at least a dozen scarabs, made out of amethyst.

With a greedy shine in his eyes and wide grin on his face, Kokurano drew out a knife from his pocket, and began to pry loose the scarabs from the wall. He dropped them one by one into the satchel he carried, and even started to whistle a bit. Oh yes, that was nice start.

In the chamber with the Seth statue, the Americans were huddled around Sid, who knelt in front of the base of the statue. His hands slowly glided over the base, tracing the seam of the hidden compartment. It had taken a while to find it, but if you knew where to look…

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Keith stepping forward, hand outstretched to touch the seam, as if to grab it open, and his hand shot forward automatically. "Wait!"

Keith glared at him, clearly angry at being interrupted, but this was much more dangerous than his boss' wrath. This could cost them their life.

Sid looked up, straight into Keith's eye, and laid his whole conviction, his knowledge into his next words. Keith had to understand just what they were dealing with. "Seti was anything but a fool."

It took him a moment, but something in his eyes, or maybe his voice, must have convinced Keith about the seriousness of the moment. He hesitated, and his eyes darted back to the workers they had brought with them. "Yeah, sure…" Keith took a step back, and gestured at them. "We'll let them open it."

Sid nodded, and gestured for the workers to get moving.

The men hesitated. It was clear that, despite their English not being good enough to actually understand what they had said, they had heard enough about this city and had a good enough grasp about the gestures accompanying their employer's conversation, that they were deeply wary about opening the statue's base.

Keith looked at them, sighed, and gestured towards Zygor. With an excited grin he unlocked the safety of his gun and pointed it at the workmen. The message was clear, and still the three men hesitated while picking up the crowbars. When they placed it at the seams of the base, Keith noticed that Ryou had taken a couple steps back and to the side. After a second, he followed him, together with his henchmen.

In the chamber underneath the statue, nothing hinted towards the movement going on above them. However Joey would have probably given a lot to be able to change places with the workmen, even knowing what risk they were facing, for Yugi had, urged on with Tristan's questions, started to ramble on excitedly about mummification while they worked.

"So let me get this straight, they ripped out your guts and stuffed them in jars?" Tristan sounded equally fascinated and nauseous, and while Yugi nodded excitedly, Joey had problems keeping his hands from shaking.

"Ok, really fascinating. I really could have lived without knowing that…"

Yugi however just smiled. "They'd take your heart too. Oh, do you know how they took out your brains?" It really was evil, he had to admit. Joey had big enough a problem as it was. But it also was just a little bit funny after all. Joey and Tristan had used this exact kind of teasing, only a lot worse, for most of the time Yugi knew them. A bit of payback wouldn't hurt, would it? So he ignored Joey's groan, of how he really didn't need to hear any of this.

"They'd take a sharp, red hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit, and then rip it all out through your nose." Yugi was looking around proudly. His friends really didn't seem to appreciate that fact. Joey was looking decidedly green around his cheeks, and Tristan had drawn his face into a painful grimace.

"Ouch, that …sounds like it would hurt."

Yugi looked at him unbelievingly. "Tristan, that's mummification, You're already dead when they do that."

Behind them, Joey coughed. "Oh yeah, and there has never been anyone mummified alive in the entire history of Egypt right?"

Yugi rolled his eyes. "Yes, because that's the entire point. You try to preserve the body after death; no point of doing that for somebody who's still alive."

There was one exception, something Yugi could only vaguely remember—a spell or a ritual, whose full purpose and execution hadn't survived till their day. It was forbidden, that much was clear, most of the preserved text basically being made up of warnings not to use this ritual ever, only as the very last way when everything else had failed, for it would take a great cost. That ritual, which had in all likelihood never been executed at all, because the Egyptians seemed to be so afraid about it, did include a mummification of a living person. Well, Yugi presumed the person in question wouldn't really be alive anymore once the mummification was done, but still. However, since that was a purely theoretical construct; he didn't think he needed to tell Joey about it. He wasn't _that_ mean.

Joey clearly wanted to shoot out another sarcastic question, but he didn't get the chance. The last hit of the sledgehammer let the whole ceiling tremble, and Joey just jumped back in time, before, right in front of him, the ceiling collapsed. Yugi and Tristan also managed to dive out of the way as a massive stone casement dropped down from the ceiling to crash into the floor. The resulting bang shook the room, the tunnel and the ceiling. Dust was everywhere, and for a moment Yugi couldn't see anything.

The crash could even be felt and heard in the room above them. Automatically Keith and Zygor pointed their guns at the floor, as if they expected something to jump at them from the ground. Sid ignored it completely, just screaming at the workers to pull harder. Nobody noticed how Ryou, halfway hidden in the shadows of a tunnel, suddenly smiled.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Feni!" With the last yell from Sid, the workmen pried the base open. The stone at the front fell away and suddenly an intense burst of liquor sprayed out from where the seams had just been. Screams of pain filled the air, as the diggers hit by the liquid started to jump away and reel around the room. The skin hit by the liquor—mostly their faces, hands and arms—had started to melt cleanly off. One by one they hit the floor while the liquor burned through the rest of their skin, and, thrashing around for a few seconds, they finally stilled, dead, and what was left of them being half-skeletal already.

Carefully the Americans took a step closer, eying the remains mistrustfully. Only Keith nodded. "Just as you said. No fool indeed."

The dust was slowly starting to settle; Yugi was almost sure he could see something again. Slowly he and his friends got up, eying the room and themselves carefully, wary of another collapse and any injuries which might have been obtained. But the ceiling seemed to be stable now, and once Yugi saw what had literally been dropped into their laps, any thought about possible instabilities flew right out of the window.

It was massive, even lying flat on the ground as it did it nearly reached Yugi's shoulders. The shape was rectangular, with the design and the form of the lid and the sight imitating palace walls, like the musters found on the walls of the Djoser complex. The black stone it was made from, granite most likely, was carefully carved with hardly any hieroglyphs or decorations in sight apart from the palace wall design. But even without them, without the hieroglyphs forming the spells from the Book of the death, Yugi knew what it was. His heart suddenly beat faster.

"Oh my god. Its…it's a sarcophagus."

He took a step towards it, to let his hand glide over the smooth stone. For a moment he could almost imagine to feel warmth under his fingers, as if the stone would still contain the heat of the sun under which it had rested millenniums ago. But the feeling was fleeting, just a passing fancy, and the stone was as cold as the rest of their surroundings, almost freezing.

"Buried at the base of Seth." He looked up at the ceiling in thought. "He must have been somebody very important." That was the most likely explanation. The slaves used to bury and prepare the people honoured here were left to the heat of the desert to mummify themselves, and the soldiers who had killed them in turn also couldn't expect a better burial than them. No, a sarcophagus meant somebody important. Still, there was something wrong about this picture. The sarcophagus was too, well, new for a better lack of word, for the honourable burials in Hamunaptra. They ended at the beginning of the Old Kingdom, yet a sarcophagus as this could only come from the New Kingdom, more than a thousand years later…

His mind went back towards the preparation room, to the iron tools, and a bad feeling started to manifest in his stomach. Somebody had been buried here way later than anybody should have been. But in silence, without his name or title or anything recorded on his sarcophagus. The question was, why?

Joey, stepping up next to him to inspect the sarcophagus a bit closer, seemed to answer Yugi's unspoken question. "Or he did something very naughty." Silence filled the room after that.

Far away from such uncomfortable questions, Kokurano was still happily dropping amethyst scarabs into his pouch. But the next one he pried loose slipped off his fingers, and instead of into the bag, it dropped onto the floor. For a second it just lay there, unmoving and unnoticed by him. Then, suddenly, it began to move, to wiggle, as if something was trying to break free. Tiny cracks appeared on the stone surface, spreading over it—and then with a slight breaking sound it split open, letting a tiny and very much alive scarab run free. And run it did, straight for Kokurano's shoe, to bury itself underneath it.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then suddenly, Kokurano's eyes began to widen, and he screamed, a high, terrified sound. It echoed through the rooms and the corridors as he dropped his knife, and started to claw away on his pant leg, on his shirts, till he finally, in one desperate gesture, tore his shirt open. Jewellery and decorative ornaments scattered over the floor, but he barely noticed that, too occupied with the big lump under his skin which was moving fast over his belly and chest. He started to run, hitting walls at the process, still clawing at the lump, trying to get it to stop. It had reached his neck now, still unconcerned by any of his increasingly desperate tries. Tears appeared in his eyes, and then suddenly, the lump vanished from his neck to dive straight into his brain.

After clearing of the sarcophagus top a bit, it was a bit of a relief for Yugi to finally find at last a hieroglyphic inscription. Ok, it was just one—and very big, and pretty much ominous looking, but at least it was not nothing. Or so he thought till he actually read what was written there.

A nervous cough from Joey snapped Yugi out of his thoughts. "So, what's the verdict? Who lies in that thing?" He still eyed the sarcophagus like it was a ticking time bomb.

Normally Yugi would have smiled that at, but he was too confused for that now. "I…don't know." His fingers glided over the inscription again. "The nameless one. That's all what's written here."

Tristan snorted. "Well, that doesn't sound creepy at all."

Again Yugi only nodded. Creepy, yes, that was good word. He would have added ominous as well. And confusing as hell.

For the Egyptians, a name was part of a person, part of their soul. To deny someone their name, to eradicate them from memory, was similar to destroying them and making it impossible for them to reach the afterlife. But then why the hell had they even buried him? If you had the body, you could just destroy it; it would have pretty much the same effect. Preserving the body was the first step of reaching the afterlife, so why did this guy get a very expensive sarcophagus and thus a very expensive burial and still got denied his name on the sarcophagus? Talk about mixed signals.

"Hey, Yugi!" Tristan's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. His friend had continued dusting off the sarcophagus, and now winked at Yugi over-excitedly. "There's a lock or something like that here. Looks like they wanted to make sure he really didn't get out."

Blinking Yugi walked over to Tristan. He was right: there was something on the sarcophagus, which could be a lock. A round shape rose out from the rest of the stone with a star-shaped depression in the middle—the seal of Seti I. Suddenly something clicked in his mind.

"A key! So that's what he meant!"

He looked up excitedly at his friends, who returned his look very questioning. "Huh?"

At Joey's question Yugi started to dig around in his pocket. "You remember, the guy on the boat?"

Joey narrowed his eyes. "You can bet I do."

With a triumphant sound Yugi finally drew out the puzzle-box from his pocket. "He wasn't just looking for a map, he was looking for a key too." Smiling he let the puzzle-boy snap open, unfolding into the same shape of the depression in the lock. Yugi looked up to smile at his friend, but that smile disappeared into shock, when the sound of loud, panicked screams started to fill the air. It took them only one look to run off, in the direction of the scream, Yugi and Tristan first, with Joey a bit behind, a look on his face that clearly spelled out that all his worst suspicions about this city had begun to come true.

They found Kokurano screaming his head off, only a few twists and turns away from them. He was running around in circles, clawing at his head, jumping and throwing himself at walls sometimes, a look of such pure fear and desperation on his face that Yugi couldn't help but feel for him. But he couldn't see what was wrong with Kokurano, or any way to help him.

Carefully he took a step closer, just as Kokurano started to rip his hair out. Joey and Tristan used this moment to try and catch him arms, to hold him down before he could hurt himself even more, but with a strength born of desperation Kokurano threw them off and ran down the corridor they had come from, and then straight against the wall at the end, head first. There was crunching sound when his head hit the wall, and then silence, as Kokurano fell over backwards, all limbs stretched away from him and glassy eyes wide open, his face frozen in an eternal mask of terror. He was dead.

Carefully Yugi and the others took a step closer. Nothing moved in the tunnel; no sound could be heard but their own breaths, and apart from the terror frozen on his face Kokurano appeared completely unharmed. No wounds were visible, nothing that could give any hint as to what had happened to him. In the deafening silence and the freezing cold of the tunnel, the three friends shared a wide-eyed look of horror.

Even hours later, Yugi couldn't forget the sight. Huddled in a blanket he sat in the middle of the city ruins, staring at their campfire. Every crackling of the flames and the wood reminded him of the sound of Kokurano's skull breaking, and every time he closed his eyes he could still see his face, the never ending fright written on it. He shivered.

Truth to be told, he hadn't particularly liked Kokurano, had found him ridiculous, and annoying and arrogant, but now he could feel nothing but grief for him. He may not have been the nicest person around, but he hadn't deserved to die like that. Nobody deserved to die like that.

And under the grief and the shock, there was the fear. They didn't know what had happened to him, what had made him so terrified. Whatever it was, it could still lurk inside this city, waiting for them, for anyone else, to catch and kill. Or it could already have gotten another victim. Another shiver passed down Yugi's spine, and he pressed his eyes shut, trying to shock the image raising in his head, about his grandfather running, just as scared and in pain as Kokurano; about his body lying in one of these endless dark rooms under the city, with the exact same look of fright as on Kokurano's face, having died alone and scared, while his grandson had gotten too distracted by strange mysteries and discoveries, heartlessly forgetting what he was looking for, not even caring anymore…

 _Then your grandfather is already dead_ … Ryou's words echoed in his head, and Yugi shook it, trying to quiet the voice. No, no, his grandfather wasn't dead, he hadn't died like that. He couldn't…but for the first time it was really hard to believe those words.

He barely looked up when Joey let himself fall down with a sigh next to him. "What do you think killed him?" Yugi's voice was still full of horror, and Joey's shrug clearly conveyed how uncomfortable he felt.

"Hell if I know. But those tunnels down there just got a lot scarier, and they weren't the most reassuring place to begin with." The scrunching of footsteps on the sand announced Tristan's return. He carried a bag with him, which he placed down next to Joey, before he sat down himself.

"And they are still about to get worse. Looks like the Americans had their own accident today. Three of their diggers were killed."

Yugi looked up in horror. "How?" He had known, theoretically speaking, that the city was dangerous, that everything had been done to guard it. But stories of traps were usually just that: stories. No grave or pyramid or temple had ever been turned into a deadly trap for invaders. Suddenly finding out that just this once the stories paled compared to the reality was a very rough thing to swallow.

When Tristan laughed as an answer, it sounded anything but happy. "Salt acid. Pressurised fucking salt acid. Some sort of ancient booby trap." He shook his head, still unbelieving.

Joey stared ahead into the flames, eyes unreadable. "I told you, that place is cursed." As if to prove his words a gust of wind suddenly blew through the camp, making all three of them jump.

Yugi laughed nervously. "That was some perfect timing." He still didn't sound a lot more optimistic.

Joey snorted. "What, you still don't believe in curses?"

Yugi shrugged. "Not really, no. Acid, and what ever happened to Kokurano, that's no curse. Those are traps made by a human mind. A human mind can beat and break them too. You can touch them, see them. I believe in that, not magic."

Tristan nodded along and then determinedly grabbed the bag he had carried here. It was only when he started to dig around in it, that Yugi recognised it was Kokurano's handbag. "Let's see what our friend here believed in. Maybe we'll find some answers there." He put on hand into the bag and started to shuffle through the contents. Yugi and Joey watched him with curious eyes, while he drew some pretty exaggerated grimaces. But suddenly Tristan screamed, making Yugi and Joey jump, drawing his hand out of the bag so fast as if he had been bitten.

"What happened?!"

"Damn it mate, what's wrong?!"

Yugi and Joey screamed almost at the same time, while Tristan, with an irritated look on his face, sucked on his finger and then reached back into the bag to drag out a liquor bottle, with its top chopped off.

"Just cut myself guys, no reason to panic." He looked at the bottle again. "Too bad that this stuff has run out. He may have had a rotten taste in clothes, but he knew his spirits." Smiling at the bottle he turned the rest of the bag inside out, revelling nothing but sand.

With the first real smile this evening, even if it was still week, Yugi shook his head, while Joey just rolled his eyes in an exasperated smile. For a while the mood seemed to lift, the horror of the last day slowly disappearing into the background. Even the constant winds of the city didn't seem to back. Yugi had just settled back into his place at the fire, ready to call it a day and maybe try to catch his sleep, when suddenly the sound of gunfire, screams and the clatter of horse hooves on sand and stone rang out through the air.

Joey was on his feet immediately, angrily shaking his head. "Damn it, not again." With that he took off, straight towards the American camp, with Tristan and Yugi only slightly behind. They arrived to a scene of pure chaos.

There seemed to be people and horses everywhere. Gunshots; panicked workers running around trying to find some safety; the Americans shooting back; it all was just one big mess without easily defined actors. But even through this chaos, Joey could discern the two most important things: one, there were some people on horses, and a dozen, maybe even more, who were attacking them, and two, he recognised the clothes they wore. Ok, it was night, they wore black, all cats are grey in the dark and so on, but fuck it, there were black clothed people attacking them on the ship, and the people now attacking them wore black too. You didn't need to be good at math to come to the conclusion that these two instances might just be the same people. The chances that they had unknowingly managed to piss of two different sets of people with similar cloth styles were really low.

And fuck it, those guys actually knew what they were doing. Even as he watched, trying to dodge the bullets and the horses, he could see the first diggers dropping to the ground, with blood spilling out under them, unmoving. Blood and sand…Who had said that again? Fuck it, it was not important right now. The Americans were shooting back—valiantly, he had to admit—and they actually managed to kill some of the riders too; Joey could see the dead men drop from their horses, but that didn't seem to discourage the attackers. On the contrary, they just rounded in on their targets more.

A painful scream filled the air, and Joey watched in slight shock as Bandit Keith suddenly collapsed, blood splattering from a wound in his shoulder. He was down, but still capable of screaming, or in this case, cursing at his friends to get him the hell out of here. Bonz and Sid actually listened, even though they hesitated a bit before throwing themselves in the line of fire, which just earned them another barge of insults.

Joey shook his head, ducking behind the rest of a stone wall nearby. Damn, this didn't look good. Those riders definitely had the upper hand, with most of the workers already running, or dead, and him and his friends having no weapons. There was a vague hope that, if Yugi and Tristan had the sense to stay behind—which was, knowing them, even more unlikely than those attackers not being their friends from the boat—that he could try and get back to them, maybe hide in the ruins till the attackers had disappeared. Not even they could search the whole ruins. Not a good plan, he had to admit, and it involved leaving the Americans to their fate, which was something he didn't actually want to do either, despite how unsympathetic they had been. There had been enough death for his taste already. But he didn't see anything else he could do—which admittedly made running towards the gunfire the stupidest thing he had ever done, but it wasn't like he actually had time to think about that. And leaving somebody alone under attack…ah damn, he just couldn't do that. Oh well, the Americans must have had some weapons lying around; they brought a whole damn arsenal with them, if he recalled correctly. Maybe he could borrow something. Just for a while, of course.

Standing up, armed with a new plan and the vague idea of finding Yugi and Tristan in this mess, Joey hastened forward, only to stop when he spotted movement among the riders. He couldn't say why it felt familiar, why he was suddenly sure that he knew that particular rider. Maybe it was instinct, a certain sense for danger which had saved his ass countless times before. Or maybe had known, even back when he last saw him, that he would meet that guy again. That had been what his eyes had promised, after all: an unsettled debt. For there, on one of the horses, right in front of him, was the guy from the boat. Joey would have betted his life on that.

Running through the ruins and trying not to die, Tristan was cursing Joey again. It was a constant thing, something that he had done almost daily since meeting Joey, but really, really, in all those years they had known each other, Joey still hadn't learned that you don't run towards a gun fight, but away from it, especially if you were unarmed. Knowing him, Joey was probably just realising that again, now, right in the middle of the fight. And so who had to get both his and Yugi's asses out there again? Right, Tristan.

Locked in his own thoughts, and busy with cursing Joey and trying not to lose sight of Yugi too, Tristan only noted the person running straight at him, while ostensibly trying to stay in the shadows and remain unseen, when he collided with them. It was a short clash, the other person running so fast, that they and Tristan nearly both landed on the sand. Only Tristan's fast reaction and an instinctive grasp for the other's shirt kept them upward, and the collider from running. Tristan had already opened his mouth to either excuse himself or scream at the other person to watch out, when he realised just who he was holding. Under long white bangs, Ryou was glaring up at him, clearly furious. An surprised grin appeared on Tristan's face.

"Ryou! Nice to meet you again. Just where do you think you're going again?" If looks could kill, Tristan could have joined the shot workers and the guy in the sarcophagus they discovered on this day on their long journey into the afterlife; with the way Ryou's black eyes tore into him. He could almost hear him grinding his teeth.

"On a moonlight walk of course, can't you see?" And he had clearly lost none of his bite.

Tristan just grinned more, while he started to drag Ryou back to camp. "How nice, you're a real romantic after all. While we walk you can tell about your friends here? If I recall correctly you know them, right? How did you call them again? Medcinas?"

Ryou tore at his arm, trying to pry himself lose. "Medjay, you cretin. And they are not my friends." He sounded like he wanted to spit every word into Tristan's face. How cute.

Tristan just nodded, with the same grim smile on his face as before. "Good, then they are going to be really happy to see you." No way was he going to let this bastard run away now. He needed answers, and if they would survive this night, he was going to get them.

Joey was still frozen on spot, staring up at his attackers on the boat. He was galloping through the camp, one of the only ones of the attackers not using a guns, opting instead for a scimitar or something similar. Probably normal weapons weren't good enough for this guy. The sight almost glorious, his silhouette lighted by some of the smaller fires having broken from smashed up lamps all over the camp, like a vengeful god of death riding into battle. Too bad that he was really good with his chosen weapons, and that this was no picture-perfect awe-inspiring sight, but just someone on a hose killing people rather bloodily.

Joey's stomach almost rebelled at the sight of diggers being cut down left and right of him like they were just cornrows. Fuck it, he had seen his fair share of violence before; he practically grew up on the streets, thank you. But this…he had never liked to see innocent people paying for what they had no part in, and damn, those people, they had just wanted to earn some money to try and make a living. Whatever the riders were attacking them for, they had the least to do with it. They were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Maybe that was what drove him forward, what let the red haze of anger, all too familiar and blowing every sense of self-preservation out of the window, descend over his mind. Joey just ran, tackling some of the ruins and a couple of rocks in stride, till he had reached nearly the same height as the boat guy on his horse…and then he did what had worked once before, he jumped at him, and tackled him right off his horse. Both of them hit the ground in a mess of clothes and limbs, and Joey could feel something sharp fly past his face, feel his skin break, and while the air got pressed out of his lungs he realised, oh right, sharp weapon, should probably do something about that. He tried to fight to get up again, to get into a better position, only to look up straight into a pair of icy blue eyes glaring at him.

"You." The voice was deep and sharp, a low, threatening hiss promising both recognition and pain. Clearly boat guy had remembered their last encounter too. Joey reacted automatically by grinning up at him.

"Hi!" Then he tried to grab the scimitar, to wrestle it out of his enemy's hand. He had a slight advantage here; being a long range weapon it was almost useless as close as they were now. That didn't mean his enemy was out of options though.

The moment Joey made a grab for it, his enemy dropped it, and before Joey could react to that, the boat guy suddenly held a dagger in his right hand, making a very close leap towards Joey ribs. Joey could barely roll away in time, a teasing sound could be heard when the dagger slid through his clothes. He fell backward, kicking at his enemy, trying to sweep him off his balance while struggling to get up—only to nearly fall down again when another rider also armed with a scimitar rode past him and nearly took his head off in one fell swoop. Damn it, did they all had this weapon stowed away somewhere? Joey managed to dive out of the way again, landing on his feet now, and immediately turning around to face his enemy—

Only to discover that where boat guy once stood there was nothing but air now. Gulping Joey turned around, trying to find him, and trying to ignore the feeling that he could cut him down from behind any second now.

It was one of the only times Yugi had ever been grateful for his smaller frame. It made hiding in the dark and among those ruins so much easier. The riders just rode by him without even seeing him. He carefully ducked behind another broken wall and glanced around. The whole campsite was pure chaos: one tent was on fire, and the wounded and the dead of both sides lay strewn around everywhere. It was sickening, and Yugi nearly stumbled over his own feet when he tried to move on. He had lost Joey and Tristan somewhere on the way between their camp and this, and the fear of finding one of them or both among the corpses on the ground was enough to drive him forward.

Later he couldn't say why he heard it over all the sounds and shots and screaming, but somewhere behind him the pattern of hooves on the sand suddenly sounded much closer than it should have been. He turned around, just in time to doge a scimitar aimed for his head. One of the riders had spotted him, and this close Yugi could see his face, astonishingly young, barely older than Yugi himself, and a determined look in his violet eyes. It was not hate, nothing so personal, just the clear promise of killing him, and that scared Yugi more than anything else that night.

He tumbled backwards over the wall stifling a scream, and jumped on his feet almost immediately to take off again. The terrain was rough, with stones and broken archways and columns laying around everywhere. That was the one advantage he had, for as long as he could keep moving and stay out of the gunfire, the riders would have a devil of a time trying to reach him. He just hoped his friends realised the same thing.

Tristan had managed to make his way over to the Americans. Ryou had refused to say anything more during their short trip together, but the way he looked at the so called Medjay around them made it clear that he was deeply uncomfortable with them. Honestly, Tristan could almost feel for him here: they were frightfully effective at decimating their enemies. But it was the first time he had ever seen Ryou anything close to frightened, when the boy wasn't playing at that to make others feel more at ease. He definitely had to talk with him about that.

Currently he had shoved Ryou into one of those old temples rising up from the ground here and there, one that seemed to be in comparatively good condition, and had taken his stand with the Americans holding the ground before it. In one hand he still held the sadly empty bottle from Kokurano; in the other hand a weapon borrowed, readily picked up and claimed as his own now from the Americans. Sensing for raiders advancing at him and his new battle mates at once, he really wished the bottle hadn't been broken or empty. He would have given anything for something to drink now.

They opened fire once their enemies were within reach, and when the smoke cleared, Tristan was relieved to see them either dead or gone. He just wanted to say something to congratulate themselves on their good show, when suddenly some of those Medjay landed behind him. They must have been on top of the temple, but there was no time to think anymore, for Tristan, throwing the gun aside, found himself locked in a hand-to-hand combat for his life. Well, wasn't that a reminder of the good ol' days. With angry determination, and the fading regret that he had wanted to leave all that behind damn it, he threw himself into the fight.

It was a thundering sound that first tipped Joey off that his enemy might be about to return. He was still roughly at the same place where he had lost the attacker from the boat from sight, turning around and desperately trying to find a weapon, anything to defend himself against the boat guy, when he heard the sound behind him and turned around just in time to find his enemy again sitting on a new horse, and giving a determined look to kill him.

With a yelp, Joey ducked, grasping the first thing he could, and raising his hands almost instinctively to protect himself against the guy's scimitar. What he had grabbed had been a stone, and predictably the scimitar flipped it out of his hand without even stopping its way once. Joey dived away, feeling a swish of air as the scimitar flew over where his head had just been a second earlier, and hastily grasped at the sand for anything useful. Damn it, there had to be something—a gun, a sword, hell Joey would have settled for one of those guy's scimitars, that would even out the odds… His hand struck something, and he dragged it up to find a stick of dynamite in his hands. The Americans must have brought it with them, possibly to clear a way that might be unpassable. Joey blinked at the stick in his hand for a second, looked up at a small burning fire near him, and made the dumbest, most risky decision he had ever made in his live.

He ran off, dogging boat guys attacks, and with one fast move shoved the stick into the fire, lighting the fuse. Then he turned around, standing up straight to face the man on the horse, hovering now right in front of him.

 _Ok buddy, let's see what you are going to do now. True, I'm definitely dying with this, but so are you, and are you willing to risk that?_

Only, looking at that impassive face glowing down on him, Joey had the sinking feeling that his enemy would actually be fine with dying. There was something there—a determination beyond what was normal—that made Joey think that this was a price his enemy would pay.

For a second they just looked at each other, the man on the horse and Joey holding up the burning dynamite with shaking fingers. He didn't want to do this, didn't want to die. But he saw no other way of ending this. He had no idea where Tristan and Yugi where, but if he couldn't see them, then they could possibly be safe from the explosion. Maybe this was what was necessary to drive their attackers off. He didn't want to do this, but if he had no other choice…

His attacker looked at him, face unreadable. Joey could only imagine what a pathetic look he must have offered: exhausted, in clothes he had worn for more than one day, panting from exhaustion, and now shaking all over. Not really a look to strike fear into anyone's eyes. But fuck if he would surrender now.

Raising his head steadily, he returned the man's look with one of his own, full of the determination he could muster. Yes, he didn't want to die, and he was afraid. But fuck it if he would let that stop him. Then suddenly he man's eyes flickered away from Joey, the look in them changing just so slightly, towards their surrounding and the people still fighting there. Towards his people still fighting there, Joey realised, and the first seed of hope took root in his heart. Maybe…if he was very lucky then his enemy might actually be…

Joey had hit the jackpot that night.

His enemy suddenly looked up, and shouted, "Enough. _Yallah!"_

And the attackers listened.

Astonished Joey observed as they just lowered their weapons and started to ride off, disappearing back into the night where they had come from. The leader…. Fuck this guy was their leader. Joey saw how the Americans stood up to look to them, as confused as he felt, saw Tristan standing with them, with a few cuts but alive, and Yugi ducking out from behind a wall nearby, and relieved flooded his veins. They were all right, they were still alive.

Of course that was the moment when he suddenly felt the cold touch of scimitar at his neck.

Looking back up again, following the trail of the weapon, Joey looked into his enemy's eyes. The emotion in them was unreadable. "We will shed no more blood tonight." He spoke evenly now, the first time Joey could really here his voice, rich and deep, and with a certain sharpness that promised that every word was meant exactly as it was, and that there would be hell to pay if they were ignored. It was slightly unsettling to listen to and impossible to ignore, and Joey had to fight the urge to just nod along with it, but he managed to hold his head still, and return his gaze evenly.

The man's eyes narrowed. "But you must leave. Leave this place or die." He looked towards the Americans, and a look of disgust ran over his features, before he glanced back at Joey. "You have one day." With that he grabbed the reins, turned his horse around, and left, disappearing into the darkness, and leaving Joey behind and shaking in his clothes.

Only when he was sure the man had disappeared did Joey dare to breathe again, to blow out the fuse. Holy shit, this guy…what the hell had that been about?

Yugi was closest to him, and the first to reach him. Joey felt his friend's hand on his shoulder, and he shot him a quick, grateful smile. Yugi just looked at him concerned. "Are you alright?"

A hysterical laugh bubbled in his throat at this question, and Joey had to fight to keep it down. Was he all right? That was good one. Maybe Yugi could ask again in a few hours again, when he didn't feel like he had locked eyes and fought with the human form of a storm and been drawn into it completely, while still living to tell the tale.

He looked up at Yugi, black rings under his eyes from lack of sleep, eyes way too wide and full of worry and swallowing his hysterics. Joey found himself smiling. "Yeah, I'm fine." And to his great surprise he found that it was true. He was still shaken, still so afraid, and cursing every second they spent inside this damned city, but…he was still here, he was alive, Yugi was alive, and there was Tristan scrabbling up to meet them too, and it felt like they had beaten the odds. He had had an odd run of luck over the past couple of days; maybe he could dare to hope that it would hold on, and they—and ideally Yugi grandfather too, if they ever found him—could all leave this city. Not bloody likely, admittedly, but he could still dream.

Joey climbed up to his feet again and looked from one of his friends to the other. "How are you?"

Tristan lifted up his thumb. "Took a few hits, but I'm still standing."

Yugi nodded. "We are all right, it's fine."

A few feet behind them, Joey could hear the Americans scrambling to their feet, with Zygor rambling off excitedly, "See, that just proves it! Old Seti's fortune must be under this sand!"

Seti's fortune… Odd, in all the action over the past couple of days Joey had almost forgotten about that. And apart from the fact that he couldn't leave his friends alone, that was the main reason he had ever come to this city. Money for Serenity and her operation… It was still as important as ever, getting more urgent every day that passed, and yet…that was this guy's take from a near brush with death? That there must be gold? Those were some twisted priorities right there.

Unfortunately he wasn't the only one. Bandit Keith's smile was entirely too greedy and triumphant when he turned around to face his comrades. "Of course. If they protect it like this, you know there must be a fortune hidden here. Bastards just want it for themselves." Joey heard Yugi snort, and in the next moment his friend was already arguing against Keith and Zygusar, annoyance and much more anger that he would usually show in his voice.

"These men are desert people. They don't value gold; they value water." The disdain in his voice at the mere assumption hid confusion so well masked, that even Joey could barely pick it up. And yet, at Yugi's words the face of his enemy from before flashed right before his eyes, the face of a man ready to kill, but also ready to die for something. And he couldn't believe that thing to be gold, but he was actually afraid to know what exactly the reason for this attack was. Because if Yugi was right, and he usually was, then what the hell had they been here for? Why had they followed them since Cairo?

It was Bonz' voice, a little bit shaken and unsure, which tore Joey out from his thoughts. "May-Maybe we could, you know, join forces? For just a night?" Under Keith's glare he visible shirked, but still continued. "We got almost killed right now. It might not be the worst plan."

Joey blinked. Wow, what a surprise. Clearly, at least one of these Americans had more brain cells than he had first assumed. It wasn't a bad idea, and from the looks of the other Americans, they were more inclined to agree with Bonz than with Keith's angry posturing.

He looked over at Tristan, who shrugged, and then at Yugi, who only hesitated for a moment, before he shrugged too. Might as well raise their odds for survival. Yugi glanced at him once, getting the agreement of his friends one last time before he spoke. "Agreed. Tomorrow, we are all going finish the digs we started, and we will help each other out before we leave."

For a tense moment, Keith glared at Yugi like he expected him to drop death any second. But Yugi held his gaze, tired but even and determined, and finally Keith nodded, before he turned around and stormed off, leaving his friends to stumble behind him. Joey shook his head. What an arrogant asshole. This was going to be a long last day.

Even an hour later, when silence had descended over the camp, Yugi couldn't find any sleep. He was overly tired especially since Joey and Tristan had insisted that now was the right time to finally show him how to throw some punches, something they had tried to convince him to learn since he had met them. Though being attacked and nearly killed twice over the span of a couple days offered a very convincing argument.

It had even been fun to learn, he had to admit, and when he finally retired, he had hoped to find at least some sleep, purely from exhaustion alone. But one or two hours of fun couldn't clean the horrors of the day from his mind, and he still saw Kokurano dying in that corridor; still saw the workers and the attackers drop dead in the sand, their blood spilling everywhere, eyes wide open and afraid. Blood and sand, that was what Ryou had said awaited them in Hamunaptra, and he had been so right. Had that been what had happened to his grandfather?

Yugi's fingers wrapped around a small necklace hidden under his clothes, playing with the oval pendant on it. He never took it off, the pictures inside of his grandfather and grandmother being some of the most valuable possessions he had. They had raised him after a train accident had taken his parents' lives when Yugi was so young he could barely remember them.

His grandfather, always so proud of him, who had been so excited about games, who had loved Egypt and adventure in equal parts so much that he had married Yugi's grandmother, an Egyptian woman and quite of adventurer herself. A smile crossed Yugi lips. Probably she was born with that, given that the cellars of the village she had been born in led to old tombs. This circumstance had worked to supplement her village's income for a long time after all. Yugi had grown up surrounded by love and laughter and by stories about old graves, myths and temples … and now his grandfather might actually be dead, and Yugi had just one day, one last chance, to find him. He just wished he had been brave enough, had thought fast enough to actually ask the guy who had attacked Joey about his grandfather. Maybe he and his people would know…but if it was so, Yugi feared the answer.

He clutched the pendant tighter, and turned around once more. Stop that, he told himself. He would sleep and he would make the most of the day tomorrow. After all, he had to. Still, when silence and sleep fell over the city of the dead that night, it was an uneasy, waiting sleep, like the city was holding its breath, waiting for the things to come.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Yugi had risen from his makeshift sleeping place almost as soon as the sun had risen, dragging a very bedraggled looking, and an outright complaining Joey, behind him. He knew that it was early, but they had only one more day here, and he would not waste it. There wasn't much that they could still do, with the rooms and corridors here being endless, but Yugi wasn't really planning on looking around here anymore anyways—or not planning on looking around here being his only plan of action. There was one more way of looking for his grandfather, but even as he was determined to employ it, he was really sure Joey and Tristan wouldn't like it. Spending the day they had in Hamunaptra, then leaving the city, and actually waiting for the men who tried to kill them last night sounded pretty foolish, even in his own mind. But he was out of options, and that plan was as foolish as coming to Hamunaptra in the first place. He definitely wasn't going to leave without an answer to his grandfather's fate. And in the meantime, he and the others could pass the day searching Hamunaptra and working on the dig they had unearthed earlier.

Which let Joey's complaints about an early morning drift off into another direction entirely, when he saw Yugi placing the key into the lock on the sarcophagus. "No, no, no, no! You are not really thinking about opening this thing, are you? Damn it, that thing was locked for a reason!"

Tristan, who stood behind Yugi and held the torch they needed to see down there, glanced over to Joey and snorted. "And what reason would that be? To keep him from rising from his grave? Come on, you're the only one who would ever believe that.

Above them, the Americans had started work just as early as them, with the workers carefully taking a small chest out of the secret compartment in the base of Seth`s statue and lowering it onto the ground. It was beautiful piece of work indeed; on its own, a treasure worth a small fortune made from a hard, richly coloured red-brown wood and inlaid with multiple gemstones. Even the centuries it had laid buried and hidden had not robbed it of its fascination.

However the people gathered there didn't seem to be in the right mood to appreciate it. The workers were clearly uncomfortable just being here, the few who had not been killed or fled yesterday were only willing to work here because Zygor, one arm in a sling, his marks from last night's battle visible, held them at gunpoint the whole time, and it was anyone's guess when their fear of this place would overwhelm their fear of being shot.

And for the Americans, only Sid looked at the chest with something like appreciation for its art. Kneeling in front of the chest, he tried to decipher the hieroglyphs while his colleagues watched. It took him a few moments to get the first sentence. "There is a curse upon this chest."

Keith's snorted hearing that, even as the workers huddled closer, suddenly way more competent in English than usual. "Yeah right, curse my ass."

A snicker could be heard from Bonz. "Yeah, who cares about that."

Sid closed his eyes for a second in annoyance. "Please, could you just once mind what you are saying? In these hallowed halls, what was written long ago is still as powerful as it is today." He glanced over at the frightened workers. "Who believes into what how much matters."

Less than impressed with his speech, Keith just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Yeah, we got that. So what does this mystical mumbo jumbo say?"

Sid shot him one last disagreeing look, and turned back towards the chest. Slowly and halting a few times to think about the right words he began to read the text. "Death will come on swiftest wings to whomever opens this chest." As if the words were its cue, a gust of wind suddenly blew through the chamber. The torches flickered, casting jerking and broken shadows on the wall. That was the last straw for the workers. Not even the fear of being shot could keep them there any longer. They turned around and ran, their screams sounding out through the corridors for a while after they had left.

Even Bonz and Zygor shared an uneasy look at that. Keith seemed to be the only one unaffected, just tapping his fingers impatiently on the gun in his holster as if urging Sid to hurry up. And then there was Ryou, who leant against one wall near the door, halfway hidden by the shadows, with his hands hidden in his pockets and an unreadable look on his face.

Sid just continued reading, uncaring and possibly barely noticing what was going around him. "It says that there is one—the undead, the vessel of the dark one—who if brought back to life is bound by sacred law to consummate this curse."

Keith laughed out loud. "Really? They warn against zombies?" He shook his head. "We better make sure we don't raise anyone from the death then." His friends shared his laughter, but it sounded way less convincing than his, and when they glanced around the chamber and the shadows moving in it, their looks were decidedly nervous.

"He will kill all who open this chest…and assimilate their organs and fluids." Sid read on, his hand slowly trailing over the hieroglyphs. "And in doing so he will regenerate and no longer be the undead vessel, but the dark one, and a plague upon this earth the end for everything." When he finished reading, the wind whistled again, making the torches flicker even worse than before. Bonz and Zygor shared a nervous look. Nobody noticed how Ryou slowly pushed himself off of his place at the wall and stepped towards the corridor.

Keith laughed again. "Well, they knew how to weave a spooky tale all right. But we didn't come here to listen to old wives tales, did we?" He bend forward to open up the chest, and at the same moment he did that, Ryou stepped into the darkness of the tunnels, a darkly triumphant smile on his lips. So the idiots had fulfilled their purpose.

Yugi had to fight down a triumphant laugh, while Tristan and Joey tried to lean the second stone sarcophagi, which had been locked into the first, upright against the wall. It was even more finely carved than the first one, a piece of work fit for any pharaoh. Different from the first one, it was carved in the shape of a mummy, arms crossed, with jewellery depicted on the arms and chest, and the face so carefully worked that the features seemed almost to be alive and individual. Yugi couldn't help but admire it.

"Oh, I've been dreaming about something like that since I was a child."

Joey, who had been shooting weary and disapproving glances both at his friends and the sarcophagus shot him a doubtful look. "Really? You've been dreaming about dead guys?"

Yugi just shot him a look, and shook his head in exasperation, not bothering with answering. He bent down to take a closer look at the hieroglyphs on the second sarcophagus, frowning as he did so. "What…his sacred spells have all been chiselled off." He touched the stone, let his hand glide over the place where the hieroglyphs had been brutally removed. "And his name too." Weird…it was all gone, but Yugi could almost imagine that he could see traces of a cartouche here. A pharaoh? But if so that made this whole mystery even more confusing. There weren't any pharaohs he could think about who could have been buried in Hamunaptra. And those destroyed spells…

"This man must have been condemned both in this life and the next."

Who would do that to a pharaoh? True, the name of pharaohs had been carved out before; trying to eradicate all memory of a past ruler did have some tradition in ancient Egypt, and the time before Seti I when Hamunaptra had been abandoned had been an extremely chaotic one, and he and his dynasty had a lot of reasons for trying to forget it. It was possible that one of the last pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty could have been taken from his tomb, and buried again in Hamunaptra, to make him vanish from everybody's minds. Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh who had tried to form a whole new religion and whose remains hadn't been found yet, sprang immediately to mind.

But while they didn't have a body for him, they had his sarcophagus, and he wouldn't have been reburied in such a well-made sarcophagus. If you wanted to make somebody disappear, you didn't honour them like that. Also the traditional spells wouldn't have been on his sarcophagus in the first place. They were the next problem with this theory. Names had been carved off, true, but the very spells used to protect the dead on their journey? Yugi had never heard of them being chiselled out before.

He looked up at the sarcophagus, at a young face carved out of stone, a small, serene smile on his lips. _Who are you and what happened to you?_ he wondered.

Joey shivered. "Fine, that whole thing is getting creepier every second. Can we leave him now?"

Tristan shook his head. "Leave? Why would we leave—there's still one stone thing to open." He pointed at the lock on the second sarcophagus, the very same as on the first one. "You're not going to chicken out, are you?"

Joey shot him an annoyed look, which changed to slight panic as Yugi stepped up to the lock with the key box in hand. "Yugi, wait. You don't really think that's a good idea. Damn, they surely had a reason for locking this fucking thing not once but twice. This is something that should never be opened, and you just want to pop the lid?"

He sounded really worried, and Yugi shot him a smile that he hoped was reassuring. Truth to be told he kind of agreed with Joey. Whoever had locked this sarcophagus and placed it here had never intended for it to be found and opened. But he couldn't just turn around and leave. It was an unsolved puzzle, a mystery that would bug him for all his days if he turned away now. He had come this far; he had to go all the way and do everything to solve it or else he would never cease to wonder.

"It's ok Joey, it's just a sarcophagus. There's nothing inside there but a mummy, and despite what some stories claim, nobody was every harmed by opening a sarcophagus." He really hated the stories that had sprung up after Carter's find in the valley, all this talk about a mummy's curse haunting and killing the members of his expedition. It was just panic aggregated to sell papers and creep out people, using the memory of tragedies for entertainment. And people like Joey took all this stuff seriously and were haunted by it. Again, if Carter himself—the first to enter the tomb, to open the coffin—was still alive and calling everyone who believed in that curse idiots, then Yugi was very inclined to not believe in it.

With that thought in mind, he turned the key, and still sprang back in shock when the sarcophagus suddenly popped open, letting its contents tumble out halfway.

It was not what he had been expecting at all. A corpse with a strange and disturbing red colour, face melted of sideways in a very contorted scream, flesh halfway rotting down and still attached to the bones in some way, hung out of the coffin. There were no traces of bandages or anything that would usually be part of the makeup of a mummy. Joey screamed, and even Tristan seemed to be a little bit green around the nose, and both took a step back from the sarcophagus.

"Yugi." Joey's voice sounded strained, and he watched the corpse wide eyed and scared, as if it would look up and jump at him any moment now. "Please, tell me that it's supposed to look like that." Yugi really wished he could reassure his friend, but in this case he had no good news for home.

"No. I've never seen a mummy look like that before." He looked again at the corpse, shocked, and oddly dismayed, with a sudden pang in his heart. What had happened here? That… He wasn't supposed to be in this state! He took a deep breath, and stopped forward towards the corpse, while a sudden, strange sadness swept over him, as if his heart broke at the sight.

Behind him, he heard Tristan speak. "Oh god, he's still juicy."

Yugi nodded, unable to lift his eyes away from the corpse. "He must be more than 3000 years old and yet…" His eyes trailed over the corpse, and he gulped. "It looks like he's still decomposing." That…just wasn't possible. Bodies and corpses didn't work that way.

Tristan bent forward to inspect the inside of the lid of the sarcophagus lying on the floor. "Uh, guys?" His voice sounded unsure, and a little bit bothered, so unlike his sureness from before, that Yugi turned his head at once. Joey just watched his friend wearily, like he suspected him to spring another mummy on him. "You may want to look at this." He pointed down at the inside of the coffin top, and Yugi, stepping closer for a better look, gasped.

Deep gouges had been cut on multiple places into the stone, sometimes going at least an inch deep. Laying a hand on one of these gouges and trailing along it confirmed Yugi's worst fears and made all his most terrible suspicions about what had happened here true at once.

"Oh my god…these marks…they were made with fingernails." He must have been desperate, truly out of his mind to claw that deeply. Yugi's stomach turned even while he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. This…this suddenly wasn't an ancient puzzle anymore, a riddle that had to be solved. This had turned into a full-fledged tragedy. He looked up again, at the mummy half falling out of the sarcophagus, and his heart contracted painfully.

"This man was buried alive."

Silence followed his words. Apart from the wind occasionally rushing through the corridors into the room, no sound could be heard. Tristan was now looking very uncomfortable, and Joey was now definitely nearing a panic attack.

"Yugi." There was laughter in his voice, the kind of laughter that was the only cover for screaming. "Didn't you claim before that there wasn't anyone mummified alive...ever? Or did I just imagine that?"

Yugi nodded, barely noticing what Joey said. "Yeah. I did." And he had honestly believed that. But with the way this was looking… He shook his head, a wave of deep sadness passing through him. Biting his lips he looked down again on the sarcophagus lid, slowly retracing the marks the dead man had left more than three millennia ago, and stopped when he spotted something else. Some small hieratic symbols, scratched in the same way as the gouges.

"He left a message." His voice was still so soft, even for his own ears it seemed to come from far away. He translated the words almost automatically. _"Death is only the beginning."_

With a low thud the lid of the chest fell to the ground. Impatiently Keith and his crew bent over the chest, greedy for the first look at their coveted treasure. But only Sid's face lit up like a Christmas tree upon seeing its contents. "Oh my god, it does exist!" His eyes were shining and with an almost reverend carefulness he lifted the chests contents up.

It wasn't much—the chest had been much swallower on the inside than on the outside. It had just enough room for a book with roughly the same measurements as the box itself, and it seemed to be made almost completely from dark stone. However, the buckles holding it shut, and the clockwork like mechanism that kept the stones bound together at one side and seemed to make turning them possible, were made from gold. The stone slab forming the front cover of the book was extremely well carved, with circular lines criss-crossing over it, four scarabs rising out from where the buckles touched the stone, and a cartouche, filled with hieroglyphic text and the depiction of somebody paying tribute to a seated Osiris. Next to it there was a round upheaval with a slight depression in the middle, taking the form of a star, or a sun, and bearing a carving of a winged scarab with a sun disk over its head. It was beautiful. And it was not what most people would take for a treasure.

"A book?!" Keith sounded more angry than incredulous. "They used this hiding place for a stuffy old book?"

Next to him, Bonz nodded. "Yeah. Where the hell is the treasure?"

Sid turned towards his colleagues, book in hand. "This, my friends, is treasure: the Book of the Dead." His hand glided over the book, while a small smile appeared on his face. "I didn't think the stories were actually real."

Nobody else looked even slightly impressed by that.

Keith turned around, a frustrated groan on his lips. "Fucking great treasure. Hell, I wouldn't trade you brass for that…" At his last words he kicked the chest, at which one of its sides came off. It fell into the sand to reveal another hidden compartment where various things made out of gold, completely untouched by age, blinked up invitingly at the Americans.

After a moment of surprised silence, Keith let out a bellowing laugh. "Well, that's more like it!" He knelt down to catch a better look. There were six items in total, all made of pure gold, and each of the bearing an Eye of Horus: a torque, a pair of scales, an ankh, an eye, a rod, and an upside down pyramid. Keith's grin widened even more, matched by the ones on his friends' faces, when the joined him.

Behind them Sid watched on with an amused smile on his face. "Well, gentlemen, I believe that there's your treasure."

Night had fallen unexpectedly fast that day. Yugi walked through the camp which now contained both his friends and the Americans, as per their agreement yesterday. Tomorrow they would have to leave this city, or at least his friends would. Yugi still hadn't told them of his plan, but while it now was his only option, he still wanted to wait till the last possible second. It would keep the discussion shorter.

After their gruesome discovery at the sarcophagus, Yugi and the others had decided to leave it alone for a while, returning to searching through the corridors. It had seemed like the less disturbing option, and Joey had looked better with every step they put between them and the mummy. But it was an endless, thankless task, running through one corridor after another, passing chamber after chamber, calling out for Yugi's grandfather. They had spent the whole day at it, and still had come up empty.

Yugi was trying to stay positive; after all they also hadn't found his grandfather's corpse. The chances that he was still alive had thus risen significantly in his opinion. True, they had barely searched even a quarter of the underground passages but still.

When the day had come to an end, Joey and Tristan had retired upwards, clearly having enough of stone corridors and muffy air. Yugi had lingered a while more, and maybe it wasn't a coincidence that his steps had led him back to the sarcophagus and the mummy buried at the feet of Seth. It was extremely creepy, yes, and given what he had already figured out, and what his closer search of the sarcophagus had revealed, it just got worse but… He couldn't explain it, he still had felt drawn to it. Curiosity maybe. Compassion, for the person who had suffered so much so many millenniums ago.

He had just risen from the underground and the chamber when the sun had begun to set, letting his latest discoveries shift through his hands. They explained so much and yet so little. Lost in his thoughts he nearly walked past Sid sitting in front of his tent and trying to pry something open, but a shape in the corner of his eye made him suddenly stop. He gazed at Sid, who remained oblivious, too busy with his treasure, and his mouth nearly fell open. That …That was…what Sid was trying to open up so desperately was the Book of the Dead. And…wait, Yugi definitely knew that lock in front of it.

Sids head suddenly shot up. Maybe he had felt Yugi eyes on him, and given how greedy they must look now, it was no wonder he looked at him suspiciously. Yugi actually resisted the urge to check if he wasn't drooling, and instead offered Sid a friendly smile.

"You know," he spoke in passing, almost on his way again, as if the book wasn't of any interest to him at all. "I believe you need a key to open that book." He nodded at the book, and walked off, while Sid lifted the book towards his eyes, and looked, very intently, at the lock.

With a sigh Yugi let himself fall down next to Joey at the fire. With his mind still back at the book he had just seen, it took him a while to realise that the Americans were playing around with gold items.

"Say, friends, what do you think these things will fetch at home?" Keith wasn't even attempting to hide his gloating; his laughter rang out through the air loudly, and he raised two of the three items he had taken for himself, a rod and an upturned pyramid, to make sure they got a really good look at them, while the third, a necklace, was already glowing in the firelight around his neck.

Joey just rolled his eyes, trying very hard not to look which just made Zygor snicker." I heard you got yourself a nice gooey mummy." He had gotten one item, a pair of scales, just like Bonz, who was playing around with an eye made of gold and nearly fell over laughing.

"Oh yes, congratulations to you all. If you dry that fella out, you might be able to sell him for firewood." Their laughter filled the night air, and Yugi had to bite down on his lips to stifle a sharp retort.

He had heard those stories before, tales of how people bought mummies to heat their chimney, or to turn them into a fine powder to mix with water and drink as medicine. Or use their bandages to make paper, used for the packing up of food products. But all of that had brought down a nasty outbreak of typhus and similar illnesses, which in his eyes was still the only curse he could actually regard as true. Since mummies were used and created to make sure people could reach the afterlife, being destroyed in such careless self-indulgent way made him angry. He closed his eyes for a moment, and decided to just ignore the words. It wasn't like anything he could say wouldn't just rile them up more.

Joey looked up, and offered him an understanding smile. "I'm going to regret asking this, I know, but found anything that could shed light on our, uh, friend downstairs?" He repressed a shudder when he spoke, and it was clear that he just asked to give Yugi a way to change the topic. So Yugi smiled at him gratefully, and a bit apologetic. Joey wouldn't enjoy what he had to say.

"A bit, but it just confirms what I was starting to suspect." He raised his hand, so Joey could see the things he had carried up: a few shells, which only at second glance started to look like bugs. They were small, and hard like stone.

Joey picked one up to look at it. "Scarab remains?" He sounded perplexed, clearly asking himself what the hell those things had to do with it.

Yugi nodded. "Flesh eating ones. I found their skeletons in our friend's coffin." He looked down at them, and had to hide a shudder. They looked so harmless, and yet they must have caused such a suffering. Honestly, the more he figured out, the more the whole thing grew just more and more depressing and horrible. "They can stay alive for years, feasting on the flesh of a corpse." Mummification and coffins were usually supposed to protect the body against that, since you needed a perfect and complete body to enter the afterlife. But in this case, things were different.

Yugi took a deep breath, before he continued. "Unfortunately for our friend he was still alive when they started feasting on him."

Joey nearly dropped the shell he was holding. "Wait, are you saying they dropped those things into the coffin with him and let them go wild?"

Yugi nodded. "Yes. Only going wild would have meant eating a very alive person very slowly."

With a horrified grimace Joey placed the scarab down. Next to him Tristan looked over to the fire, where their meal for the night was cooking.

"Guy, you know, I'm suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore." He shot Joey and Yugi a weak smile. "Though one thing is clear, he couldn't have been very popular when they threw him down there."

Yugi's eyes wandered back into the flames. "I don't know…" Both of his friends looked at him curiously, and he shrugged. "It looks like he suffered through the Hom-Dai, the worst of all Ancient Egyptian rituals. Some call it a curse, for all the suffering it entails, but"—he shook his head—"we don't really know a lot about it, and till yesterday I thought it had never been used."

Joey drew a grimace. "That bad, huh?"

Yugi had to laugh at that. "Oh yes. They never used it, because…well, it should be able to seal something—they didn't even say what—they were so afraid. We have a few references towards a dark being, nothing more. But they believed that if the one the Hom-Dai was used on would ever arise again, he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt, and the end of the world."

His voice seemed to come from far away, as if he was telling a story. He wasn't really sure if telling his friends about the Hom-Dai was actually the right thing to do. It was a horror story, pure and simple, something even the Egyptians had feared over everything else. Joey was afraid enough already, no need to make things worse. But everything pointed towards their friend downstairs being a victim of this ritual: him being mummified alive, the scarabs poured over him…hell, Yugi had even gotten close enough to check that his tongue was missing, which was another part of the ritual. Thankfully his mouth was already hanging wide open, or that check would have been even worse. Even burying him here, in Egypt's most sacred and hidden city, under Seth made sense. Nobody would disturb him here, and who better but the god fighting against chaos each night and who, as Lord of the red Land, the desert, kept Egypt safe from its enemies, to watch over somebody who should never ever rise? Also, he was sure the Hom-Dai curse was somehow tied up with Seth and his priesthood, he just couldn't quite remember how… But either way, his friends deserved to know the truth.

"They wouldn't have used it, if they weren't absolutely sure that they had no other choice."

Only the wind could be heard in the seconds after he had finished his tale. For a moment, nobody seemed to want to talk, not even the Americans who still sat next to them, clearly just as creeped out as everybody else. It was Joey, who interrupted the uncomfortable silence with a shaky laugh.

"Fine. That's…That's fine. I didn't want to sleep tonight anyway." It was the right thing to say apparently, for when Tristan started to laugh, the others soon joined in. For a while the laughter and the warm flames seemed to drive away the darkness which had settled down with Yugi's story.

It was long after midnight when everyone finally retreated towards their own tents. The moon was nearly full, and so the whole camp was lit up with a silvery light, every shadow sharp and clear cut. Something seemed to be in the air—an almost dreamlike quality that made it hard for Yugi to find sleep. Maybe it was his nervousness about tomorrow, his last chance at finding his grandfather. Or maybe it was the talk about the Hom-Dai still chasing around in his thoughts. Or rather, he couldn't stop thinking about the victim. What had he done to be used in such a dark and desperate ritual? What crime could be bad enough to justify that?

Giving up any pretence of sleep Yugi opened his eyes with a sigh, and started to get up. Might as well take a walk, if he couldn't sleep anyway.

The ruins were beautiful in the moonlight, the silence of the sleeping camp encompassing everything. Yugi carefully made his way through the camp, avoiding the fire where he could still see Joey sitting. True to his words his friend had obviously been unable to find sleep either. Maybe Yugi would join him later; for now he wanted to remain alone a little longer. His feet carried him onward, and though he could have sworn that he had had no plan where to go when he got up, he found himself standing in front of Sid's makeshift tent, gazing down at the Egyptologist, cradling both his part of the treasure, a golden Ankh sign, and the Book of the Dead in his arms while he slept. It would take so little effort; he just needed to take it, and he didn't intend to steal it anyway. He just wanted a look before Sid carried it off. And, he had the key…

Before he knew what he did, Yugi was already grabbing the book and heading back with Joey at the fire. His friend raised an eyebrow when Yugi sat down with the book next to him.

"That's called stealing, you know."

Yugi snorted. "Oh really? I thought you and Tristan called that _borrowing."_ His hands were already trailing over the book's surface, and a wide grin appeared on his face. It was real! He could hardly believe that he held the actual Book of the Dead in his hands. Neither of his grandparents would ever believe him when he told them about it.

Joey scuttled closer to catch a better look. "Yeah, but you're not supposed to actually listen to us about that. Tea is going to have both our skins when she hears about that." He squinted down at the book. "Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say the Book of Amun-Ra was made from gold?"

Yugi was already taking out the key and, snapping it open, placed it into the lock. Just like with the coffin it fit perfectly. "It is made out of gold. But this isn't the Book of Amun-Ra, but something else. I think it might be the Book of the Dead."

Joey sat up straight as if he was afraid the book would leap up to bite him. "Book of the Dead? Does everything in this cursed city have something to do with dead people and mummies and such? And are you sure you should be playing around with that?" He glared so much at the book that Yugi had to laugh.

"Don't worry." He turned the key, and the book snapped open. "No harm ever came from reading a book."

He opened the book, and a sudden gust of wind hurled through the camp, making both Yugi and Joey jump. Both looked around nervously till Joey laughed. "That happens a lot around here." He sounded far from being at ease. Still Yugi smiled, trying to calm his friend down a bit, and looked down at the book again. The words practically leaped out to him, and automatically he began to read.

" _Amun Ra Amun day_ … It talks about the night and the day." Made sense, since the sun travelled through the underworld at night, and you had to travel through the twelve hours of the night to reach Osiris' halls. _"Suei a haramun…"_ He continued reading, his voice falling into a pleasing, almost tilting rhythm, as if he had spent his whole life reading Egyptian spells and rituals.

He didn't notice how it carried away from him and Joey, the words trailing around the camp, hailing out in deep dark corridors underneath the holy city. His voice rang out in the coffin chamber, trailing over the old corpse, till suddenly the mummy's face snapped up and his face contorted into a loud scream, his hands raised in front of his face and grabbing angrily at the air.

That scream was heard through the whole camp. Or at least Yugi hoped that it was a scream he heard because it didn't sound like anything a human being could produce. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, as if the very ruins of the city themselves screamed at them.

He jumped to his feet, just like Joey, while Tristan, who had slept behind them, bolted up straight and managed to fall face down into the sand. All around them, the camp came to life, with everyone stumbling around scared and confused. Everyone but Sid, who had jumped from his bed straight to awareness and managed to run directly to Yugi immediately. His scream nearly overtook the inhuman sound.

"No! You mustn't read from the book!" As if his words had been a cure, the sound stopped, leaving behind nothing but silence.

For a moment nobody spoke. Confused and scared glances were thrown around, and for one illusionary second Yugi actually dared to hope that this had been it, that there was just a strange sound, and nothing more.

Then the wind began to pick up. It was slow at first, just toying with the tents and blankets, making the flames flicker, but it grew stronger every second, coming straight from the desert, and bringing with it a low, threatening sound, a constant hum becoming louder and louder every second. Yugi turned to watch out into the desert for the source of the sound. Behind him, he could hear the Americans moving, could see Tristan and Joey stepping next to him from the corner of his eye, but he barely paid attention to that.

At first it was just a dark shape on the horizon, maybe a sand dune being lifted up by the wind, darker than even the night sky. But then it soared up even more, breaking down into three different dark waves, all moving on their own accord with different speeds, and Yugi finally, and very belatedly, recognised the sound for what it was: millions upon millions of locust wings beating against each other. A hungry swarm, the like he had never seen before, was heading straight at them. They were at the city walls before he could even blink.

If Joey hadn't reacted so fast, Yugi would have been overtaken by the swarm within seconds. Joey grabbed his arm, pulling Yugi along through the ruins, while he gestured with the other at Tristan, who didn't even wait for this signal to start running too. They weren't fast enough to outrun the swarm—there was no way anyone could have done that—but they made less of an easy target while running, and every step got them closer to safety. The Americans started running too, making for the temple.

Sid was the only one who didn't move. Covered from head to toe in locusts, he was staring down at the Book of the Dead in his arms with a haunted, far off look. "My god." His voice was barely audible, and he didn't even seem to notice the insects sitting on him. "What have we done?"

They only had one torch with them, courtesy of Tristan who somehow had the sense to grab one, and the corridors underneath the city were an endless maze of darkness where Yugi and his friend stumbled every other step. At least there were no locusts here. Nobody had paid any attention to where they had been running. Getting away had been the goal—anything else was unimportant.

Yugi and his friends were making their way through one part of the labyrinth, the Americans and their diggers through another, with people splitting off and running into each other or into walls. Nothing mattered in this chaos, save their own safety, and so even Keith, normally the leader of the group, got pushed aside. He fell down, his sunglasses falling into the sand, and got up to curse at the others, only to see a digger step onto his sunglasses while running, and shattering them. He was off before Keith could catch him, which was his salvation. Keith staggered to his feet, only to realise, much to his ire, that he was alone in the tunnel.

"Bonz?! Zygor?! Where are you assholes?!" The air in this corridor was freezingly cold, cutting into every breath he took, and while he spoke he could see mist forming in front of his lips.

Yugi and his friends turned down another corridor, finally slowing down, after it became clear that no locust had followed them down there. Yugi leaned against the wall, out of breath, and shaking all over. Tristan, holding the torch high and equally shaken as Yugi turned towards him and joey with wide eyes.

"What the hell was that?!" Yugi could only shake his head, and raise his shoulders in confusion, still much too out of breath to answer, and not sure what the answer was anyway. He had no idea what had happened. Locusts weren't that unusual for Egypt, admittedly, but they normally didn't appear in such large swarms. They seemed to have broken directly from the sand, as if it had given birth to them.

A few steps ahead of them, Joey was blinking into the darkness. "Uh guys?" He sounded like he tried his best not to panic, and that alone was enough to make Yugi´s heart beat loudly in his chest. What the hell was happening now? "You might want to take a look at this, and please, tell me that this is normal and there's nothing to worry about."

Yugi and Tristan took a step closer, lining up with Joey and wearily peeking into the darkness. Tristan's torch revealed a few meters of the corridor ahead of them, empty, save for the sand covering the floor, and the very noticeable hill growing out of this sand. It rose higher and higher, and Yugi reflexively took a step back.

"Joey?" He was surprised how calm his voice sounded, the underlying fear barely more than a hint. "I don't think that this is normal."

The corridor around them began to shake, and Joey had just time to sigh.

"Damn, I knew it,"

The boiling hill in front of them suddenly burst open, spilling forward an endless flood of small, greenish-black shimmering scarabs heading straight for them. The group didn't wait for them to catch up with them, instead turning around immediately and starting to run.

Keith stumbled through the passages, one hand on the stone walls to try and orientate himself. It was so dark; he could barely see his hand in front of his eyes, and the air around him seemed to grow colder and colder. And he could find no trace of his cowardly and traitorous followers anywhere.

"Sid?! Bonz? Zygor?! Come on you cowards!" His words echoed through the corridor and ahead of him something started to move, a dark shape nearly invisible in the shadows. Keith grinned. "Finally. Took you bastards long enough." But the figure in front of him didn't move. Frowning, Keith stumbled forward another step, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with his underling. The air wasn't that could, whoever it was couldn't have been frozen on the spot. "Listen, you cowardly fucker…" He raised his hand, to grab the figure by the throat and shake whomever the ungrateful bastard was, only to touch nothing but flesh, squishy and already decaying. Only then did he register the stench that filled the air around the figure.

He tried to run, to scream, to do anything, but it was way too late. A skeletal hand, covered in molten, rotting flesh grabbed him, and another covered his mouth and his screams choked in the darkness.

Yugi and the others were still running and screaming. One hallway after another passed them by, Yugi having long ago lost any chance of even throwing a guess as to where they might be. There wasn't enough space in his head for that anyway—just panic and fear, and nothing else. They entered a cavern he was sure they hadn't seen before, a big cave made up almost entirely of a deep and dark abyss, and a stairway crossing it, leading to another entrance upwards. It was astonishingly bright, rendering Tristan's torch tiny and insignificant, but Yugi hadn't time to worry about that. The scarabs were still behind them, and they were fast.

He nearly stumbled at the first step, with Joey's fast reaction in grabbing him and pulling him up again the only thing that saved him. A few steps ahead of them, Tristan gestured with his head towards a pedestal, raising out of the abyss next to the staircase. It was just close enough to jump onto, but far away enough that there was reasonable hope the scarabs might just not be able to get to it. Unless they could fly, in which case they were all really screwed.

Yugi nodded, and Tristan was already jumping onto the pedestal, followed by Joey. Yugi, being the last, didn't have time to make the jump, instead opting for a small grotto in the cave wall, still separated from the staircase by the abyss. He reached it just in time; the moment his feet landed, the scarabs bypassed them on the staircase.

Yugi turned around, and with horrified eyes, watched the scarabs run past them. That wasn't a swarm. That was an army, an unstoppable, endless flood. The whole staircase was filled with their greenish chitin bodies, scratching, tumbling over and under each other, one massive river with a collective intelligence and no end. But they didn't seem to be able to fly and they didn't cross the abyss.

Yugi looked over to Joey and Tristan, equally horrified, but safe, and looking at them made his heart squeeze. That was all his fault. His friends wouldn't be here if he hadn't been so obsessed with this city. He should have insisted on travelling alone. And they definitely wouldn't be in all this trouble if he hadn't read from the book. He couldn't know for sure of course, but…everything, the scream, the locusts, those scarabs, they had happened immediately after he had finished reading.

The screeches and high winded chitters of the scarabs cut through his ears, making it even harder to think. He stumbled backwards, unable to stand up any longer, his hand grasping aimlessly at the stone behind him…which suddenly started to move. Yugi had just time for a surprised yelp, before he fell backwards through an opening in the stone. Grasping for something to hold onto, and only hitting air, he saw the stone close again right in front of him, cutting him off from his friends and any source of light, and then there was a sharp pain when his head hit the floor, and he remembered nothing after that as darkness claimed him.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The first thing Yugi noticed was the fog. Lazily drifting and being of a pale violet colour, it covered every inch of his vision and made it impossible to discern what lay behind it. But then again, nothing looked familiar anymore. The corridors and chambers of the underground city had disappeared; he couldn't see anything even remotely familiar: no stone, no walls, just this endless and impenetrable fog. Slowly he sat up. All his movements were slow, as if he was moving through water, and his thoughts too seemed to move at the speed of a snail. Maybe it had to do with him hitting his head, or maybe it was his surroundings. It was so silent here—a complete absence of sound, and strangely peaceful, as if nothing that had just happened would matter anymore, as if nothing could ever touch him again. Yugi just had time to blink, to slowly realise that either things had gotten even stranger than before or this was the most real feeling dream he ever had, when the fog slowly began to dissolve.

Corridors now appeared before him, stone walls which should have been familiar, but blinking up at them, Yugi was sure he had never seen such a structure in his life. He was sitting on the floor of what looked like a big hall, from which a pure labyrinth of stairs and walkways and tunnels seemed to start. The stairs were everywhere, running up and down the walls, twisting around each other and laughing in the face of such things as physics or gravity. They ran upside down, left and right and everywhere on their side there were the door. They were just as impossible as the rest of the room, appearing on the ceiling and the walls. And they seemed to be endless. Looking at the whole construction made Yugi dizzy. His mind was turning itself inside out, trying to keep up with his eyes and so he only noticed belatedly that something was moving in the shadows of this room.

Yugi could see only a dark shape, completely veiled by the shadows. It moved evenly, coming closer and closer. He should have panicked, should have been scared, he realised that, but it seemed impossible to feel anything. The whole thing didn't feel real, like he was just a watcher in his own body, and whatever happened didn't concern him at all. Still he managed to struggle to his feet, but slowly, and just as he stood the person advancing at him took a step out of the shadows, freezing Yugi on the spot. Whatever activity his brain was still capable of carrying out collapsed immediately, leaving only room for one thought.

 _Damn, he is beautiful._

Standing before him was a young man, hardly older than Yugi himself, dressed in a white tunic drawn closer at his waist by three broad gold bands. A small piece of cloth, dyed blue and framed by a white line fell down from those bands in front of the tunic. He wore a deep, purple coat, under which the last circles of a broad golden necklace could be seen. Golden bracelets covered his upper arms and wrists too, which were left bare otherwise. His face was finely drawn, like one of the statues at the museum depicting the pharaohs of old in their idealised form, forever young and beautiful, all sharp angles and high cheekbones, undercut by an almost fragile beauty that smoothed over what would otherwise have looked too harsh. His skin was dark, with a hint of gold, like the desert sands in the evening, bathed in the last rays of the sun. There was a quiet confidence to his face in the way he regarded Yugi, something almost like arrogance. This was the look of somebody who knew that he had only to say one word and all he wanted would be fulfilled. But the most striking part of his face were his eyes. Yugi had never seen such a pair before, and he was sure he never would see such a sight again. They were a deep, dark red—the sun setting at night, or a pair of ruby's surrounded by ancient gold. They were strange and unreadable enough that, with the other contrasts in his face, they lifted the stranger's features from merely beautiful to _fascinating._

Those eyes were now looked on Yugi, reading him silently. The strangers face was unreadable, with his head tilted slightly sideways as if he was in deep thought, but suddenly, a small smile appeared on his face. It was fond, but with a hint of sadness that Yugi couldn't place.

"So it was you." He spoke gently, his voice dark and velvety like a desert night under the stars. Maybe that was the reason it took Yugi a moment to figure out that what he was speaking was neither English nor Arabic. And it was odd, but Yugi was almost sure he had heard the voice before; he just couldn't remember when.

Taking one small, involuntary step towards Yugi, the stranger stopped again, as if he was holding himself back. "I should have known." The stranger shook his head, still that fond, sad smile on his face. "Who else would try to solve Hamunaptra's secrets and read from the Book of the Dead?"

When he looked at Yugi again, there was hint of pride in his face, and Yugi really hoped that he didn't expect an answer to that question, because his brain was definitely incapable of formulating one. Caught between _oh my god, that guy is speaking Late Egyptian, so this is what the language really sounded like?_ and _that almost sounds like he knows me, what is going on?_ and then just plain staring at the stranger, he nearly missed the moment where the fondness left the stranger's face and a hard look entered his eyes.

"There's no time now. He's coming."

Yugi blinked, finally managing to open his mouth to ask who was coming, who the stranger was, everything else that should really be asked, when the stranger suddenly stood directly in front of him. Yugi was sure he hadn't seen him move.

"Heba, you must wake up. Now." The stranger's voice had turned into a sharp hiss, warning clear in every word, and Yugi had no time to wonder about the strange name he was calling him, he only saw the red eyes suddenly light up, and a third eye formed of pure light, looking like an Eye of Horus appear on the stranger's forehead, and then Yugi's own eyes flew open, and gasping for air he sat up, back in the labyrinth underneath Hamunaptra.

His had trouble trying to catch his breath; his whole body was shaking, and his mind was a tangle of questions. What the…What…What had that been all about? Burying his head in his hands Yugi waited a few seconds for his breath to calm down and the shaking to stop. That…that hadn't been a dream, or at least, more than a normal dream, of that he was sure. But he would find no explanation sitting there, and his brain was slowly catching up to the fact that he had been running for his life before he tumbled down through the walls—that he was still separated from Joey and Tristan, and that whatever was going on in the city of the dead at the moment surely could only turn out deadly. Also, his dream friend's last words had been a clear warning, and Yugi really didn't want to meet whoever was supposed to come.

Slowly he staggered to his feet, one hand on the wall. He was still shaking, but he managed to take a step forward, and then another. The air around him was so cold that after a while Yugi wasn't sure if he was shaking from fright or because he was freezing. It actually seemed to become colder with each step he took forward, but the passage ahead of him was empty, so he pressed on.

A few steps more, and the passage ran out into a small room, not more than a crossing between multiple tunnels. A shaft of moonlight fell down from a hole in the ceiling, calming Yugi's still quickly beating heart just as much as the familiar shape standing in the middle of the crossing.

"Keith!" He had his back turned towards Yugi, so he couldn't see the relieved smile blooming on Yugi's face. He had never thought he would have been grateful to stumble over Keith one day, but after this night's event, any familiar face was welcome.

"I thought I would never meet somebody else down here again." He took a step towards Keith, sureness and a bit of confidence returning to him. "I've lost the others and…" The words died on his lips, and Yugi drew back in horror, when Keith suddenly turned around, looking at him with empty eye sockets from which blood was still spilling down.

"My eyes…" Keith's words were heavily drawn, and he was stumbling so much that they were barely understandable. Yugi stumbled back a few more steps when he realised that Keith was also missing his tongue. "My eyes…please help me…he took my tongue." Keith stepped forward, nearly losing his balance in the process. His hand was outstretched, trying to find anything that would guide him, and grasping only at air. He had always been so sure, so full of confidence, but now there was nothing left but a broken husk of the man he had been only an hour ago.

Yugi grasped one hand over his mouth, unable to scream, to do anything but watch Keith with pity and horror, and he stepped back again, only to bump into something that was too soft to be a wall. An unpleasant smell, like that of rotten flesh, hit his nose, and he realised what it was even as he spun around to face it. He looked straight at the mummy which he himself had freed from its coffin. It was clearly the same, rotten flesh clinging to old bones, face still misaligned and grotesque. Only it was moving and…

Yugi gulped, bile rising in his throat as he realised what else was different. The mummy in the coffin had only had empty sockets, not eyes—only now it suddenly did. Yugi took another step back, away from the mummy which followed him, and finally his throat opened up and he screamed.

He hit the wall behind him only seconds later, out of breath, shaking worse than before, and trapped with the mummy advancing on him. Behind the mummy he could still see Keith grasping around at the air, asking around for Yugi. Unfortunately Yugi had lost control of his voice again, he couldn't even have answered Keith if he had tried.

The mummy itself didn't pay any attention to Keith, didn't even seem to realise he was still there. It advanced again on Yugi, who was now trying to crawl into the wall, and bowed forward to get a closer look at him. The stench of rotting flesh hit Yugi's nose, and he nearly gagged. The mummy tilted its head sideward, watching Yugi intently. Then suddenly its face drew into a snarl which twisted it even worse than before.

"You!"A dark, empty laugh followed that sound. "So you were the one to wake me, hm? Isn't that ironic?" His voice was broken, hollow; with each word he said Yugi could actually see the rotten remains of his vocal cords move through his holey neck. But even so there was something about it that, distorted as it was, seemed familiar. He was also the second person tonight who was speaking Egyptian, but Yugi was fairly sure that this was not what made it so familiar.

He pressed himself closer to the wall, and the mummy, noticing his distress, took another step closer, laughing again. "Oh yes, that's very fitting indeed."

On the other side of that wall, Joey's fist collided with the stone. "Damn it, there has to be a trapdoor around here somewhere!"

Tristan, who was equally feeling around his way around the grotto, turned his head towards his friend. "I know, but cursing it won't make it appear any faster!"

Joey was already opening his mouth for a retort, when he closed it again, and turned his head towards the stairs, listening for something. His eyes widened. "Tristan? Please tell me I'm imagining that?" He didn't sound very hopeful, and when Tristan stopped to listen, he could realise how. The chittering that filled the air was awfully familiar.

"I wish I could."

There wasn't only the chittering of the scarabs—screams could also be heard, and in the next moment Bonz and Zygor appeared, running down the stairs like mad while screaming for their lives, followed by one of the diggers. It took Joey and Tristan only one look to join them, to hasten down the stairs. One second later, the flood of scarabs burst through the entrance of the cave, with a few of them even landing on the grotto's platform.

The Americans had nearly reached the other way out, with Joey and Tristan hot on their heels, when the worker stumbled. He fell down flat on the stairs, screaming in panic and trying to get up again, while Joey stopped and ran a few steps back to help him up, but both efforts were in vain. It took the scarabs less than a second to catch up with the worker, and his screams, while they buried him under their many bodies would hound Joey for the rest of his days—which were looking to be a lot shorter than he would have liked, for after not even a minute the hungry flood moved on from the worker, his screams silenced, leaving behind a half-eaten skeleton.

Joey turned around and actually managed to overtake both Tristan and the Americans, who had also stopped to look on in horror. But they were not far behind him when they crossed the threshold of the caves entrance.

This time the labyrinth worked in their favour. Joey had no idea how, but after a few twists and turns the scarabs behind them just vanished. Maybe they didn't like the cold, for in the passages they ran through now the air was freezing. He was about to make a comment of that matter to Tristan, when he rounded another corner, and suddenly found himself next to Yugi, who, not noticing him, was staring wide eyed and completely pale straight ahead.

"Yugi!" Joey had never been more relieved to see his friend. He was still alive; neither those horrifying bugs nor anything else lurking in this damned city had gotten him. Joey would have hugged him if there hadn't been more pressing matters at hand, like getting out of here alive. Hugging and celebrating could happen afterwards.

"Come on, let's get out of this hell hole." He grabbed Yugi by the arm, and only then realised, that Yugi was shaking from head to toe, and that his eyes were full of fear. "Yugi?" He turned his head, followed Yugi's line of sight, only to stagger back in horror, unable to believe what he saw. That…that was his worst nightmare: a mummy—the mummy they had themselves broken out of that coffin—standing there, half-rotten, definitely alive, and it was stepping forward, and the sand under its feet was moving, swirling around it, and it was heading directly for them…

The mummy stopped, only two steps away from them. Behind it, Joey could see the Americans staring at the scene before them just like they had at the digger getting eaten. They seemed to be frozen on the spot, so it was pretty clear that no help would be coming from them. At least Tristan was grabbing Zygor's elephant gun from his dangling hand, and crept a few steps closer.

But most of Joey's attention was still fixated on the mummy, a part of him desperately clinging to the weak hope that this was just a nightmare, that this was not real….though given that Yugi seemed to be seeing the same things as him, that didn't hold much water. Suddenly the mummy unhinged its jar, which, stretching down to an impossible size, just dangled around loosely in front of its chest, and screeched. It was an inhuman sound, way louder and sharper that should have been possible, shaking the wall around them, making Joey and Yugi flinch in pain, and moving the ground below. It was purely automatic, a mixture of fear and pure burning panic, that made Joey open his own mouth and scream back at it.

The result was of course pitiful in comparison, less a way of intimidation and more a proof of Joey's fright, but Tristan chose that particular moment to shoot at the mummy, which was Joey's cue to grab Yugi's arm and run. The others followed them, and he looked back only once to see Tristan shooting the mummy again, to see how the elephant gun's shot blew it back, leaving an even bigger hole in its ribcage. Then there was nothing but running, the eternal labyrinth of the dark passages ahead of them, and his companion's frightened breathing.

It was almost a surprise to find that it was still night when they all stumbled out of a crevice in one of the ruins of the city. The locusts were gone, the wind too, and in the moonlight the whole place looked deceitfully peaceful. Yugi fell to his knees into the sand the moment they were out of the underground passages; his feet just giving in under him, and Joey very nearly joined him. He was shaking, still unable to really possess what he had seen, and his voice was dangerously high when he turned towards his friends.

"The dead are not going to walk huh?! Those curses do nothing?! Then what the hell was that?!" Joey was sounding quite hysterical, he realised that, but that was entirely because he was hysterical. And it was real testament to how bad Yugi had been hit by everything, that he looked up only to scream back at Joey.

"I don't know! That's the first case I've ever heard off!" He sounded as done as Joey felt, and they both would have probably screamed at each other for a while, with Tristan looking on between them like he was watching a tennis match, if Bonz hadn't interrupted them.

"Ah, guys?" His voice was shaking again while still sounding strongly polite, and Joey's heart contracted at that. Oh for fuck's sake, what was going on now? "We might have another problem."

Yugi looked up, and Joey turned around, annoyance and anger now taking over the panic, which was a relief. He could handle anger. He swore, if it was the mummy again, or those horrible bugs or…

He stopped mid thought when he found himself face to face with ten riders, all dressed in black, all holding rifles aimed at them, apart from their leader who was looking at them with hard blue eyes so clearly burning with anger. Oh…those guys. Right, they had been around too…and their leader didn't seem to be too happy to see them…

Joey raised his hands, at the same time as Yugi did, while Tristan dropped the elephant gun in the sand before he followed their example. The Americans themselves were already kneeling in front of the riders, hands behind their heads.

With on fluid movement their leader leaped down from his horse, and stepped towards them. Looking at him at close distance, Joey had to revise his earlier assessment. He wasn't angry; he was absolutely _furious_.

"I told you to leave or die." His voice was even, and of sharpness and coldness that would have cut down glass. "You refused. Now you may have killed us all. For you have unleashed the creature we have feared for more than 3000 years."

They knew. That was the only thought in Joey's head now.

They knew.

His gaze glided over the men on their horses, their faces drawn, over their leader standing straight and proud. His throat suddenly ran dry. So that was why they had been attacking them. Yugi's words from last night ran through his mind, his denial of their attackers guarding treasures: _they value water, not gold_. He had been so right.

Tristan snorted. "Relax, I got him." He pointed with his head towards the elephant gun lying in the sand. The leaders eyes wandered over to him for a second, full of contempt, but he didn't acknowledge that with an answer. It was another one of the riders who did, a young man with violet eyes, and pale blond hair, a rarity in this country, falling over his shoulders.

"No mortal weapon can kill this creature, you idiot. He isn't of this world." From the way he spoke and how he eyed Tristan, it was clear that he thought that this was obvious, and they particularly stupid if they ever thought a simple thing like getting shot could stop him. Tristan glared back at him.

Their leader looked up at the speaker once, nodding in his direction. With a sigh, the blond haired raider gave a signal, and the riders parted, making way for two people. One of them was hanging between two of the warriors, getting more dragged by them than walking himself. It was hard to recognise him as what was left of Bandit Keith. The other person, however, while being flanked by two other warriors, was walking perfectly well on his own. He was an older man, wearing a fashionable brown suit which had seen better days, with short grey hair, sticking up from his head in a weird style, and a pair of violet eyes that which looked out kindly at the world. An exhausted smile lay on his face.

At this sight, Yugi's mouth flew open. "Grandfather?" He could barely form the word, his voice breaking at the first syllable. He stumbled on his feet, not caring for the guards flanking his grandfather, or about everyone else present—he just threw himself forward into his grandfather's waiting arms.

"Yugi" The old man sounded so relieved. He was grasping Yugi almost as tightly as Yugi did.

At this word, Yugi was unable to hold back the tears anymore. "I…I thought…You're still alive." His hiccupped at the words, barely being able to get them out. His grandfather was shaking too, and no matter what else had happened that night, what might still lay ahead of them, there was only one thing Yugi could still think about.

His grandfather was still alive.

He hadn't been a victim of the scarabs, or the locusts, or any of the traps here. His body wasn't lying in some long-winded corridor, never to be found again. He was alive, and for one moment Yugi could really believe that everything would turn all right again.

"I'm so sorry." His grandfather's voice was also shaking. "I never wanted to worry you so much." Yugi wanted to answer, but the loud voices of the Americans behind him interrupted him, serving as a sudden reminder that he and his grandfather weren't alone here.

"What did you do to him?!"

Yugi took a step back, out of his grandfather's arms, to see Zygor advancing at the desert tribe in a clearly threatening fashion.

The leader barely spared him glance. "We saved him." He nearly spit out the words; Joey could hear his disgust and anger in every syllable. "Saved him before the creature could finish his work." He turned around, ignoring the Americans, Yugi and his grandfather—who both still stood near to him—and Tristan and Joey. The two men holding up Keith dropped him by his friends, and when they and their leader were back on their horses, the leader looked down at the group again. "All of you must leave quickly, before he finishes you all."

Joey blinked. "You…are not going to kill us all?" Given how angry the leader was, and that they honestly were responsible for this whole mess, he was surprised that they would just be allowed to walk away.

Tristan elbowed him in the side, hissing, "Don't give him ideas."

The leaders was now looking at him, his eyes lingering on Joey for a second. Joey returned his look evenly, and after a second had passed, the leader spoke again. "We must now hunt him down, and find a way to kill him." His voice was deadly calm, and the meaning was clear: we now have other priorities than you.

He was already turning away with the others when Tristan screamed after him, a bit desperately, clearly trying to convince himself as much as the leader. " I told, you I got him!"

The leader stopped with a jerk, turning around at once, and fixing them all with a burning glare. "Know this. This creature is the bringer of death, the end of all things. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop." With that he turned away, galloping after his tribe.

Chastened and frightened, the group packed in silence, and left the city as fast as they could. The wind, picking up again and screaming like the creature underneath the city, haunted them long after the city was out of view.

In the passages under Hamunaptra, a lone figure walked. Despite the complete darkness around him, Ryou Bakura's steps were sure and determined, his goal clear ahead of him. On a cord around his neck, a strange ornament dangled in front of his chest—a ring, holding the shape of a Pyramid adorned with the Eye of Horus in its centre, and with five spikes hanging from its bottom.

Something moved in the darkness ahead of him, and he stopped. The mummy was stepping out of the darkness, stopping also. For a moment, they just looked at each other, and then a smile flew over the mummy's lips.

"It's time."

The mummy and Bakura spoke at the same time, their voices as one, before Bakura bowed. The mummy's smile deepened and it started to laugh, the harsh sound ringing out through the ancient halls.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

A lifetime seemed to have passed since Yugi and the others had left Cairo.The journey there had left him without a single impression; he could hardly say how long it had taken them. It all passed in the blink of an eye, and now—walking through familiar streets, seeing places, buildings he had passed by every day—it all seemed to be unfamiliar and strange to him. Like it couldn't be real, life going on like normal, sunlight falling down over people trading, laughing, not knowing that somewhere in the desert a creature had awaken that might just end them all.

The others seemed to be in a similar mood as him. Nobody had spoken much on the journey back, and when they had arrived in the city, going home had never crossed anyone's mind. The Americans, including a still broken, hardly talking Keith, had set out to find the first boat that would get them out of Egypt and back home; and in the meantime the others had regrouped at the Shepherd's Hotel. Tea had been at the bar when they arrived, despite it being only midday, and had only taken one look at them, bedraggled, exhausted, and frightened looking, and had immediately sent them to the reception to get rooms. She would settle that with the manager, she had assured them. They could freshen up, rest, and then she expected a story. Yugi had agreed to give it to her, but he had no idea how he could make what happened sound in any way believable. Walking mummies, ancient rituals, flesh-eating scarabs? He had enough trouble believing it himself. But it had happened, it was his fault, and he would have to find a solution for that. That much he knew.

So one hour after their arrival, he stepped out into the room he was sharing with his grandfather, freshened up after a shower and a bit of a rest, and faced both his grandfather and Joey. Tristan had already gone down to the bar, stating his need for a drink, and asking them to just tell him what they would come up with. Yugi knew that feeling well.

Joey, leaning against a commode, hands folded over his chest, was the first one to speak. "Ok, I'm still holding out hope for all of this to be some kind of very bad nightmare, but just in case it's not, what the hell are we going to do?" He sounded completely perplexed, and the fear in his eyes made Yugi flinch. For Joey this was his worst nightmare come to life, and it was again Yugi's fault.

"I don't know." Admitting that hurt, dragging with it feelings of hopelessness and despair. But he refused to give in to that. This was Egyptian magic and rituals, and everything in their belief system came down to duality: life and death, creation and destruction, order and chaos; they moved in circles, and Maat, the system of order and justice, had to prevail. Humans had to be the ones to fulfil Maat. If there was a spell to resurrect this mummy, there must be something to stop it either.

"But we are going to find a way. We woke him up, and now we stop him."

At this Joey shook his head rapidly. "No, oh no! I'm all with you on stopping this guy, but there was no 'we' in resurrecting that guy. I told you guys to leave the coffin alone, that it would be a bad idea to unlock it, and that reading the book could be bad. And did anybody listen to me? _No!_ So don't lay that on my feet!" He was looking furious at this point, and Yugi couldn't blame him one bit.

Chastened, he nodded. Joey was right, and he had no way of every making that up. "I know. And I'm really sorry. I should have thought before I spoke and…" He shook his head. "I really didn't believe any of this could be real." His voice was a bit shaking at this point, and he fought to control it again. No, not yet, he didn't need a breakdown now.

Silence followed his words. Joey looked at him for a moment, and the he sighed. "Apology accepted. I know you didn't mean it. Just promise me you're going to listen to me next time."

Yugi laughed, quite relieved. That was the moment his grandfather spoke.

For the whole journey since they had left Hamunaptra, the old man had been withdrawn into his own thoughts, puzzling over something. Now it seemed he had decided to voice his questions.

"How did you manage that, actually? Finding the city, opening that coffin, finding and reading from the book—I thought I had lost the only map."

Both Yugi and Joey looked at him surprised. "Lost? Grandfather, you send me the map and the key yourself." Even as Yugi spoke the words, he could feel dread coiling in his stomach. His grandfather wasn't in the habit of forgetting things and the shocked look on the old man's face now confirmed Yugi's fears that there was something really wrong now.

"I sent you that? Yugi, I would have never send you the map to such a place, not after I saw what could happen there. And even if I would, I would never have had the time." A smaller, self-decapitating smile appeared on his lips. "My hosts were extremely kind, but they did have a habit of carrying around there weapons and reminding me, the honoured guest that I was, I would still be shot if I even attempted to leave their camp. And they would have never transported such a message for me."

Yugi looked at him, still aghast. "But…if you didn't send it, then who…" He didn't get to finish his question, before Joey interrupted him.

"It was that Ryou guy. I'm willing to bet all I've got on that. There was something really creepy going on with him."

Yugi nodded, a bit regretfully. Getting Ryou involved had been his move too. He wanted to say something, but his grandfather spoke first.

"Ryou? You don't mean Ryou Bakura?" He sounded extremely worried, and a bit more agitated than the name alone seemed to warrant, and Yugi nodded, surprised.

"Yeah, the son of your partner. We…there had been an accident with the map, and we needed help. I, uh, kind of threw him into a situation where he had no choice but to lead us."

Joey nodded, eyes dark. "He also led the Americans to the city, out of his own free will at the time." His eyes remained locked on Yugi's grandfather, who looked hardly surprised at the news. Just bitterly sad. "You know why?"

It was more of a statement than a question. Yugi's grandfather nodded, eyes closed. "Not for certain, but I have my suspicions. He followed his father and me to Hamunaptra because he worried for him, and there…" He stopped, taking a deep breath. His eyes remained closed, and it was clear that talking about what had happened was extremely painful to him.

"We found the city, even the statue of Seth, and descended into the labyrinth below. What we found there was…indescribable." Despite everything a small smile gild over his face. "Rooms full of treasures, and traps; moving statues that would kill you if took a wrong step…and behind that, a simple room with an altar. On it lay a single item, made of pure gold: a ring, with a pyramid inside, and a couple of spikes hanging from the outside.

"My partner, he was beyond himself, having collected treasure from the other rooms already. He was glowing, talking about how this was his life's dream come true, and while he did that, he walked towards the altar, and picked up the ring." The old man's face drew together in pain at the memory, and even while he was not looking at Yugi and Joey, the horror of what had happened could be seen in every line on that face. "It killed him." His grandfather's voice was almost completely toneless. "One moment he just held it, and then he collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain while the ring sprang from his hand to bury its spikes inside his chest. I ran towards him, but got overtaken by his son. That actually was the first time we noticed that he had followed us; the boy was really clever." Again there was a smile on his face, but now it just was sad. "He grabbed the ring, trying to save his father and…"

Again he interrupted himself, shaking his head. "Still today, I've no idea what happened. Just this: the second the boy touched the ring, he changed. The ring let go of his father, who fell down dead, and the boy stood up, ring in his hands. He turned around and smiled at me. I still see that smile in my nightmares, and I probably always will. There was nothing human in it, just pure madness. He laughed, and said, 'Finally, a working host and sacrifice.' And then he looked at me, and something, I still have no idea what, rose out of him and launched straight at me. And I ran." Deep regret tainted his words.

"It's my greatest shame, but I couldn't stop myself. I just turned around and ran. All the way through this tunnels there was something after me, hunting me and it nearly got me in the end. I still have no idea what saved my life back then, or how I survived. That boy—that thing taking over his body—tried to trap me in the labyrinth, but I found another way out, only to run straight into my future hosts." He finally opened his eyes, and looked at Yugi and joey, who had listened with breathless and growing disturbance. "You know the rest."

Nobody said anything for a few seconds, letting the story sink in. Joey was the first one to speak, letting out a long breath first. "Oh great, there's possession involved now too. I like this mess more and more." His voice was completely flat.

Yugi shook his head. "That's…" He couldn't find the words. Ryou had never been himself the whole time? He had been possessed by god knew what. And for what reason? To lure them all to Hamunaptra? But why?

One word of his grandfather's story repeated itself in his head: sacrifice.

He gasped. "He needs a sacrifice. Or, probably more than one. Keith, the mummy didn't kill him, it took his tongue and his eyes. And…" He stopped, a horrifying thought downing on him. "Golden items. That's exactly what the Americans found. What if they, I don't know, mark them somehow? As free game for the mummy?"

Both Joey and his grandfather stared at him, wide eyed.

This time it was his grandfather who spoke first. "We should better keep an eye on them then."

Joey sighed. "To the bar then. Goddamnit, I'm really hating my life right now."

The day had turned into a lovely afternoon, and as Tristan made his way to the bar, barely noticing the splendid décor and the fountains embedded in the floor in his haste to drown as many drinks as possible to get the events from the last night at Hamunaptra out of his head. He wasn't sure he would succeed, but he would certainly try.

On his way he bypassed Tea, standing next to one of the fountains, talking animatedly with a young man. He had long black hair tied back into a high ponytail, an annoyingly self-confident smile, and startling green eyes. He laughed at something Tea said.

"You know me, I'm always looking for a challenge—or for a game." He looked up, and Tristan could swear that guy winked at him. "The war left me restless."

Tea rolled her eyes at that, but even while she shook her head, her smile was still fond. "Oh yes, I know that. Well, we all have our little problems, Duke." At that she spotted Tristan, and eyes widening gestured for him to wait. "One moment."

He stopped, and she turned back to Duke. "I'm sorry, I've got to leave you now. You know, pressing engagements."

Duke laughed at that, and raised her hand to kiss the air above it. "Of course, far be it for me to keep a lady from her duty. Especially if the duty looks so good." Now there could be no mistake; he was looking up, and winking at Tristan again, a daredevil smile on his face. For a moment Tristan didn't know if he should be surprised or laugh. But he could feel a redness creeping up over his face. Duke looked at Tea again before he could react in any other way. "And that reminds me; I've got to return to the airfield again. Call me if you've got a challenge or some fun in mind." With that last sentence, looking both at Tea and Tristan, he managed a playful bow, and turned around to disappear into the crowd. Tristan gasped at the air where he had just been, mouth hanging open, while Tea just shook her head.

"Once a rascal, always a rascal. Best pilot I've ever seen, but the guy can't resist playing with fire. Or anything else." Her smile belied her words, conveying some very sweet memories indeed, and Tristan, rapidly blinking, closed his mouth and decided that this was way too much information. And just one more reason to finally get that fucking drink.

Then Tea turned around to him, and the smile on her face disappeared, leaving behind a very sharp look. "So, is one of you now ready to tell me what happened out there? You all looked like you've gotten into a fight with a ghost."

At this Tristan couldn't help himself, he just had to laugh, even if it was a very bitter one. "God, I wish it had been a ghost." He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I know you're curious and worried, and you don't know how much reason you have for that, but...can I get some spirits first? There is no way I'm going to get through this talk without them. And neither will you."

Since Tea was never going to believe him, he could tell that already. She examined him again, clearly thinking about what he said, and then nodded, threading her arm through his. "Ok, I'm going to invite you for a drink, and the you're going to spill everything."

Tristan nodded, walking with her through the room. "Believe me, you have no idea how wild this story is. It already began on the boat…"

Two brandies for both of them later, Tea was looking at Tristan incredulously. "Let me repeat that: you guys accidentally resurrected a mummy which is now coming after you and the world with the plagues in tow?"

Tristan nodded, drowning the rest of his glass in one go.

Tea eyed that glass suspiciously. "Are you sure those are your first drinks today?"

Tristan was about to answer that, when a voice behind them interrupted him. "Lady, you can be sure of that."

They both turned around to see Bonz sitting beside them, staring despondently into the bottom of his own glass. "I can pay witness to every damn word. After all, that sacred walking corpse is after us."

Tristan shot him a sympathetic look. "Not for much longer now though, huh? You guys are going to leave soon." He couldn't deny himself a bit of anger at that. In a way, the Americans were running with a tail behind their legs. On the other hand, it was really hard to blame them for it.

Bonz snorted. "I wish. We're all packed but that damned ship ain't going to leave till tomorrow." He gestured for another drink. Tristan couldn't keep himself from grimacing, while Tea, looking from one of them to the other with a still pretty doubtful mean, gestured at the barman for a refill for her and Tristan too. That must really suck, being stuck here with their only way of escape being so far away.

"So, uh…how's your friend?" He couldn't stop himself from asking the question, even though he knew there could be no good answer.

Bonz rightfully snorted at that. "What do you think? He got his eyes and tongue ripped out by a living nightmare." There was really nothing to say to that, so Tristan just awkwardly raised his glass to his lips again, with Bonz doing the same with a grim determined look on his face.

Given his circumstances, Keith was actually in a pretty good shape. Admittedly, he was cooped up in his room, a piece of cloth tied over his eyes to keep his eye holes from being visible. His hands wouldn't stop shaking, and he would never again be the man who had left for Hamunaptra, but he was able to awkwardly serve tea to that native prince and Bakura, who had arranged that meeting out of a deep sense of guilt over that situation. The prince would help him out—financially mostly, he had promised—and that was offer Keith couldn't refuse. After all, that damned mummy hadn't only stolen his tongue and eyes, but also the golden items which were his share of the treasure. If he could get recompensed for all he had suffered, he would be a fool not to take that chance.

So he was sitting there, serving tea like some British twit and listening to Bakura talking. His other guest hadn't said a word since they had arrived. Time to change that.

Keith leaned forward, turning his head into the vague direction he suspected his guest to be at. "Well, can say I'm really glad to meet you." He still could barely form full words, it was a guessing game if his visitors really understood him. He raised his hand, to properly greet his visitor, only to for it to be patted away by Bakura.

"No! Prince Atem doesn't like to be touched. One of those silly Eastern superstitions, you know?" He sounded as distasteful as Keith felt, and Keith had a hard time keeping his snort at bay. Wouldn't do good to offend a future sponsor after all.

"Sorry, Your Highness. I had no idea."

He heard clothes rustling as Bakura turned. "Oh, Prince Atem understands that, and he is very grateful for your cooperation." Was Keith wrong or was there a triumphant, almost greedy undertone as his old guide spoke? "And for your eyes. And for your tongue." Bakura's words were now underlined with a dark hiss, a sound full of satisfaction, and Keith, listening to the words—but with his brain unable to grasp them, even while horrifying understanding slowly dawned on him—could only gasp at them in helpless shock.

"Wha..?" He couldn't get out more, and Bakura, with that same hissing undertone and that frightful smile in his voice, interrupted him again.

"But more is needed."

Keith was unable to move now, feeling like he was frozen down in his chair. He could only gaggle out the same silly, helpless sound. "Wha…?!"

And Bakura was still talking. "I'm afraid"—he sounded anything but, that bastard was enjoying himself immensely, that much Keith could realise even through panic took control of his whole body, and the realisation that he would die now, took root in his brain—"the Prince must finish the job, and consummate the curse which you and your crew have oh so helpfully brought over yourselves."

Those were the last words Bandit Keith would ever hear. He finally regained control of his body, jumping out of his seat, trying to run, to get his hands on a weapon, he didn't know what… Only to hear a rustling sound, clothes moving, a terrible, sucking noise, not unlike a desert storm building up and then his whole being was consumed by an never ending, unspeakable pain, as he felt his body shrivel around him. His screams filled up the room.

The glasses chinked together, as Tea, Tristan and Bonz raised them. "I'm still not sure what you two are saying, but good luck to you, gentlemen." With that toast courtesy of Tea, they all drowned their glasses, only to gag immediately. Tristan and Bonz both spat out their drinks, while Tea merely grimaced. One second later every other patron in the bar repeated their gestures.

"Sweet Jesus!" What the hell was that?!"

"That tastes like…"

Tristan's horrified conclusion was finished by Tea, taking a step forward and looking on in unbelieving fear at the fountain ahead of her, which suddenly spouted not water, but a dark, red liquid: "Blood."

As he spoke, frightened screams could be heard, and around them the whole room turned into panic with patrons fleeing left and right at the sight of the blood fountains. Tea and Bonz looked on completely shocked, while Tristan spoke, his voice toneless.

"And the rivers and waters in Egypt ran red…as blood." He hadn't remembered a lot about his bible, he had to admit that, but the plagues were a part that had a tendency to stick out, horrifying as they were. And wasn't that what the desert leader guy had said? The mummy would bring the plagues with it?

His eyes widened as realisation dawned, and he sprang to his feet. "He's here." He still sounded completely emotionless before he took off running, with Tea's and Bonz' surprised screams at his heels. He heard their footsteps running after him, but the sound barely registered over all the people fleeing the scene, and his own nervous tangle of thoughts. If the mummy was already here…he had to find the others.

Yugi and Joey had just cleared the last set of stairs to the ground floor, followed a bit slower by Yugi's grandfather, and turned towards the bar, when the first crash of thunder could be heard.

"Yugi! Joey! Mr. Muto!" All three of them turned around, to see Tristan running at them at high speed, with Tea and Bonz hot on his heels.

"Tristan!" Joey lifted his hand to wink his two friends and their companion over.

"There you are!" Yugi sounded relieved, but Tristan just slowed down to a jog, stopping in front of them and smiled.

It wasn't a happy one.

"We've got problems." As if to prove the obviousness of that statement, another roar of thunder rolled across the sky, loud enough to make it sound like the whole building was torn into two, and the dark sky ripped open, followed by a hail of fire slamming into the hotel, the city and everything in it.

Nobody said anything—they just took off running, looking for shelter, while all around them plants and people were burned by the fire. The screams of the fleeing and the dying filled the air, and Tristan just turned his head slightly to look at Tea.

"Do you believe me now?!" His panicked question got no answer, as another fireball hit close to the group, forcing them to jump out of the way.

Fireballs hit the buildings around them, blasting holes even into the pyramids reigning majestically over the city limits, and destroying minarets, rooftops and place walls. They stopped at the top of some stairs, too horrified to actually believe what they saw, only to turn around at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. In all that panic the noise stood out for their calm, measured gait, as if somebody was just going for a stroll. One moment later, a familiar figure appeared on the landing above them.

"You!" Bonz screamed at the same time as Yugi exclaimed. "Ryou!" The boy was just looking down at them both, eyes hard and face unreadable, without uttering a single word. Around his neck hung the cord with a ring circling a golden pyramid. Yugi had to gulp at that, his grandfather's story ringing in his ears. So it was true… Ryou had been possessed the whole time. He had believed it, of course, but seeing proof dangling right in front of his eyes was something altogether different.

His grandfather took a step forward, eyes full of fear and regret. "Ryou…" Whatever he wanted to say, he didn't get the chance. A loud roar, inhuman and sadly all too familiar, louder than even the fire bringing storm raging around them, came from up the stairs behind Ryou, and with a scream of, "Oh god, that came from our room!" Bonz was running down the stairs past Ryou. The others had no chance but to follow him, not being able to let him go alone, which was the chance Ryou used to bypass them, continuing, again eerily calm, up the stairs and around the next corner.

When they entered the room, Tristan first—followed by Joey who looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here, and Yugi—nothing looked out of order, save for the unlocked door. That was until they took a few steps into the room.

Yugi took a step back, hand in front of his mouth, while Joey let out a scared whimper. "Oh, no, no _nonono."_

In one of the leather chairs in the room, head laid back, and the piece of cloth still hanging loosely around his eyes, were the mortal remains of Bandit Keith. He was shrivelled up, looking like one of the desert mummy's back in the museum, skin leathery and drawn tight over his skeleton. There was no doubt as to what had happened to him.

A crackle drew their eyes away from the corpse, and once Yugi spotted what was in front of the fire place, he really wished he had never looked over. The mummy which had cornered him in the labyrinth of Hamunaptra stood there, body twisting and turning in weird and disturbing ways, as slowly flesh and muscles grew on its body. It turned around, and Yugi could see his whole frame rippling as it rebuilt itself. The mummy looked over at them, and roared again, a bit quieter this time.

Next to him Yugi could see Joey shaking like a leave in the wind. "We are in serious trouble."

As if to prove Joey right, the mummy advanced at them, hands raised in a threatening gesture, eyes locked on them and glinting with deadly delight. He looked a bit more human now, less broken, but the mixture of dry brown skin bits, dried up muscles half rebuilt, and bone sticking out in places was still nauseating. Tristan didn't waste any time to grab one of the guns laying on table next to him, and that must have belonged to Keith, and started shooting, but even hitting the creature point blank did nothing. It didn't even slow it down.

That was when the others finally joined them in the room, together with Zygor, who must have met them along the way. The Americans joined Tristan in shooting at the creature immediately, with the exact same results. Tristan had only time to look scared as he realized what was going to happen, before the creature was in front him, throwing him away from itself. He flew through the room, straight into the two Americans and knocking them over, and thus blocking the way for Tea and Yugi's grandfather who could do nothing but watch the scene unfold helplessly.

Then the mummy turned around, facing Yugi and Joey, who simultaneously realised that, to quote Tristan, they really had a problem now. They backed away from the mummy, which walked at them calmly, unconcerned with any possible interruption. Yugi's fingers hit the bookshelf behind him, marking the end of his escape route, and next to him Joey's back hit the same shelf. The mummy was only one step away from them, and Yugi could swear he saw it grin at them, sure that its prey could not escape it, when suddenly behind the mummy a terrible off-key sequence of notes trilled.

The mummy flew around, and behind it, Yugi could see a white cat—one of the many strays which regarded the hotel and its rooms as their private place, no matter what the humans might think about that—walking over the piano keys, and meowing at them. It ducked a bit when it noticed their sudden attention, but the mummy's reaction was far more severe, and surprising: it gasped, with an almost scared look on its face, before it ran away from Yugi and Joey, who flinched at its closeness still; and, spinning around itself, it turned into a miniature sandstorm which still bore itss screaming face as it flew out of the window. The window banged close behind it, and silence filled the room.

Slowly Tristan and the Americans sat up, while Tea and Yugi's grandfather stepped around them. Tea was white in the face, and her hands clasped over her mouth were shaking.

"Oh my god, oh my god." She repeated nothing else.

Tristan looked at the sand trail the mummy had left behind. "We are in very serious trouble."

Next to him, Zygor nodded. "Ok, what the hell was that about? What does this guy want?!"

Joey turned to him, eyes wide. "That's not the question! I just want to know how to stop him!" He and Yugi had careful stepped away from the shelf and towards the middle of the room. Yugi's grandfather was already standing there, eyeing the sand left behind with an unreadable look on his face. Then he turned around, and looked from one frightened and concerned face to another.

"My hosts did talk while I was with them." He sounded completely calm as a small, determined smile appeared on his face. "And thanks to them, I know someone who can answer all our questions."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Hastening through the halls of the museum of a antiquities, Joey had nearly run into Miho, who stepped out behind one of the statues of Ramses II with a bunch of book in various states of disrepair on her arms. She yelped, nearly dropping the books, and Yugi stepped in fast, a move as if to catch them.

Miho looked at them confusedly. "Yugi! Since when are you guys back?" Her eyes wandered over the group: Yugi, his grandfather, Joey, Tristan, Tea and two guys she had never before seen in her life, all of them clearly not in the best state of mind. Really, it was no wonder she was a bit surprised.

Yugi's grandfather just nodded at her in greeting before continuing on his way.

Yugi managed an apologetic smile. "Sorry, we are in a little bit of hurry right now. I'll tell you later!" The last sentence was thrown over his shoulder as he turned around the bend, with the others at his heels. Tea rolled her eyes, and pulling a now very confused and unsettled Miho along with her, filled her in using a series of hissing whispers. What she said didn't seem to ease Miho's mind; her eyes grew wider with every step they covered.

They cleared one more corner, and Yugi's grandfather stood directly before the door to Isis' office. He didn't stop to knock, just threw open the doors and waltzed right in with a suddenly very worried Yugi in tiw. Three heads shot up when the group entered the room, but it was Joey, the third to enter, who first realized just who they were dealing with.

"You!" Accusingly he pointed at the leader of the Medjay standing next to Isis' desk, who folded his hands in front of his chest, and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask him what he wanted to do about him. Next to him stood the warrior with the pale blond hair and violet eyes, looking irritated at the interruption. Isis, standing behind her desk, was the only one who regarded her new visitors calmly, nodding her head at them.

"Mr. Muto. Yugi." That calm greeting, as if they would just turn up for tea, was enough to make a very clear picture emerge in Joey's mind.

"You're in with them!" Ok, that sounded a little bit more accusingly than he might have intended, but he had some very rough days behind him. He couldn't be expected to react calmly to every surprise.

Isis just raised an eyebrow, even as Yugi's grandfather slowly nodded. "She does. The people in the camp mentioned her once or twice." He looked at Isis, and—to Joey's big surprise—smiled. "You know, you could have warned me before sending warriors after me. I'm not that unreasonable."

Isis turned to look at him. "Even if it was about Hamunaptra? I'm sorry, old friend, but I couldn't take that risk."

Yugi grandfather nodded. "Of course. I understand that."

"Wait." The day had been pretty weird already, but now Joey was really sure that the old man had lost his mind. Given how Yugi was looking at his grandfather, he wasn't the only one. "She ratted you out to some warriors to kill you, and you understand that?" The old man was talking like things like that happened on regular basis, damnit.

Now Isis raised her eyebrow at him. "I didn't 'rat him out,' as you say. I actually asked for his life to be spared."

The blond guy next to her grinned, just as Joey snorted. "Oh yes. Why do you think he's still alive?" Granted, he had a point, but Joey was not going to admit that. They were talking about human lives here after all.

"Yeah right, like I'm going to belief that. You guys did your very best to kill us after all."

Now the leader looked at him, cold blue eyes nailing him in place. "Believe me, that we weren't successful is my biggest regret." That simple sentence—the way it was spoken, full of disdain and cold conviction—hit Joey like a brick between the eyes. For a moment they weren't standing in an office anymore, but back in Hamunaptra, under a dark sky, with nothing but a dynamite fuse in his hand to save his life. Oh…of course that guy would regret his decision back then. Hell, Joey could almost understand it; they all wouldn't be in this trouble right now if he had decided differently. Still, it was surprising how much that hurt.

He was relieved when Yugi choose that point to step between them, and thus saved him from having to find an answer.

"Ok, can we discuss that later? I think we all have something more important to deal with." At the last words he looked at the leader whose lips curled upwards in a snarl of displeasure, but who otherwise said nothing.

Yugi took a deep breath. "Good. I…I don't know what exactly you stand for, or if you have reasons to kill us, but after what I've seen I'm willing to go on a little faith here." He looked at all three in front of him, eyes trailing from one to the other. "So, what can you tell us about the mummy we…" He corrected himself almost immediately. "I unleashed?"

Isis and the other two shared a glance, a silent discussion passing between them, before the leader slowly nodded. He didn't look to happy about it, but the one next to him, catching that glare, shrugged. "It's the end of the world, not like talking can hurt anymore." That netted him a very dark look, but he shrugged it off while Isis took deep breath and started talking.

"We are part of an ancient tribe, the Medjay, descendants of the protectors of the pharaohs. Once we reach full age, we are sworn to do any and all to keep the Dark One from being reborn into this world again."

Tristan interrupted her. "The dark one? You mean the mummy?"

"No." The leader spoke again, with a voice sharp enough to cut glass. "The dark one is what the mummy contains."

Isis nodded. "Its real name is Zorc Necrophades, but we generally avoid mentioning it. He is the personification of chaos, of everything evil."

" _Isfet."_ Yugi's Grandfather whispered, Chaos. Maats opposite. A term Yugi knew very well.

Isis nodded. "Exactly. 3000 years ago in a foolish grab for power, the uncle of the reigning pharaoh called him and opened up a way for him into this world. The dark one would have destroyed everything if the pharaoh himself didn't bring upon himself the greatest possible sacrifice to stop him."

"The Hom-Dai." Yugi's voice was dry as he spoke. Everything he knew about the ritual, everything that had irritated him about the burial at Hamunaptra, every little detail that hadn't made sense, suddenly fell into place. And the picture it presented was horrible.

"Exactly." Isis' voice was completely calm, the slight tremor in it barely noticeable. "He let the ritual be performed on himself, sealing the dark one into his own body and what was left of his power in seven items made of gold, giving up everything in the process. For the past 3000 years the pharaoh has held Zorc back, buried under the sands of Hamunaptra and locked in an eternal battle with him."

The pale blond Medjay next to her grinned darkly. "Until you guys resurrected him and gave the dark one the slight advantage he needed to overpower the pharaoh and start his quest to get fully resurrected again and destroy everything. Great work."

Isis glanced over at him. "Not helpful, Malik."

He just shrugged. "It's true."

Joey's eye twitched at that, but he didn't take the bait. "And all of that justifies you killing innocent people?" A pair of icy blue eyes glared at him. "Let me think." Every word drowned in contempt, as if Joey was just a stupid, unimportant dog who couldn't be expected to grasp what was going on around him. "To stop this creature? In a heartbeat."

Tristan's glanced from his friend to the Medjay leader, locked in a duel of glares and clearly not noticing anyone else in the room, and decided to interrupt before this really exploded. "Ok, different question. Why doesn't this dark one like cats?"

It was Isis again who answered. "Cats are part of the animals sacred to Bastet and Sekhmet, linked with the Eye of the Sun, Ra's daughter, and his greatest protector and warrior against evil. The Dark One will fear them until he is fully regenerated." The leader interrupted his duel of glares with Joey to now glare at them all. "After that there will be nothing he fears."

Tea slowly nodded. "Ok, so he hasn't fully regenerated yet. How would that regeneration process work and is there a way to stop it?"

Malik shrugged. "Oh, that's the fun part. He kills everyone who opens the chest containing the seven items in which part of his power was locked to contain him. Opening it, and thus making the items' powers accessible, is what gave him his advantage in the battle with the pharaoh."

Tristan shivered. "Yeah, and we all have seen how he kills them: by sucking them dry."

At those words Bonz and Zygor glared at him, while Joey shivered. "Thanks, I really wanted to be reminded of that."

Yugi barely paid attention to his friends bickering. "I've got another question. At Hamunaptra, when we ran into him, and again in the room, he seemed to be focused on me." Both times, the mummy had walked straight towards him, and the grin he wore…no Yugi wouldn't be able to forget it anytime soon. It had been too dark, too full of malicious joy. Remembering it alone made his stomach draw together, and seeing the look the three Medjay now shared just made it worse. Suddenly he knew that he really wouldn't like what they had to say.

"Then he has already chosen his sacrifice." At the cool words of the leader, Joey's eyes widened. "Sacrifice?! Since when are we talking about a sacrifice?!" Apart from a short cold glance he got ignored, the leader looking at Yugi.

"The last step the dark one has to complete to free himself of the pharaoh's hold forever is a human sacrifice—an unwilling one to cancel out the willing one binding him." For the first time Yugi was sure he could see something else other than contempt in the leader's eyes, something almost like pity, which was really nice of him but it didn't make it better. In fact, it just made Yugi feel worse. If this guy was feeling bad for him, then everything had truly gone to hell in a handbasket. Even Joey was looking at him like he would drop down dead every moment.

"Bad luck, old friend." Yugi turned around to shoot his friend a look, not happy about being given up for the dead already. Again, this was not helping. He turned back to the three Medjay, just in time to catch the leader's next words.

"On the contrary, this may give us enough time to kill the creature." That was slightly more optimistic, but it still didn't sound that great for Yugi. He was opening his mouth to point that out when Joey spoke; the tremor in his voice made Yugi stop.

"Then we better hurry, for we need all the help we can get." With a shaking finger he pointed towards the skylight, usually lightening up the office during the day. Till now the sun had filled the room with light, but now it was darkening rapidly, a round shape, quite likely the moon, gliding in front of it and throwing the world into darkness. But no solar eclipse had been expected, and nightfall was far away still. "His powers are growing."

Silence followed Joey's shaky declaration as everyone's eyes focused on the rapidly diminishing sun. It was then that Miho spoke, her voice an eerie whisper as she quoted the Bible.

" _And he stretched for his hands towards the heavens and there was darkness in the land of Egypt…_ Oh god, it's true. Those really are the plagues." It was the first thing she had spoken since following them into the office; Yugi had almost forgotten that she was there. Her fear was palpable, and he could do nothing but offer her a very shaky smile as comfort. He was pretty afraid himself. Biting his lips, he shook his head. No, he wouldn't let his fears win out. They had to find a way to stop the dark one. He didn't have his full power yet; the chance was still there—but he could barely see how.

They had left the museum after that last show of the mummy's power, regrouping in the hotel that, with the lights all blazing, seemed like a safe haven in the darkness. Yugi was pacing his room with the others sitting around. Everything the Medjay had told them churned around in his head.

"Ok, who exactly opened that chest?" That seemed the easiest place to intercept Zorc's plan, stopping him from killing the ones he needed to regenerate. No kills, no regeneration.

Zygor and Bonz shared an uncomfortable look, before Bonz began to talk with a big sigh. "Well, there was me and Zygor here." He sounded utterly defeated, even as his friend nodded. "And Keith, of course." There was a tremor in his voice when he spoke. Bonz shivered. "And Sid, our Egyptologist."

Tristan looked over at them from his position at the wall. "Ryou wasn't with you?" He clearly didn't expect a positive answer, looking completely unsurprised, when Zygor shook his head.

"No, he disappeared shortly before that. I haven't seen him since then, actually." He wrinkled his forehead, while Yugi, his grandfather and the others shared a look.

"That fits," Tristan conceded, while Yugi's grandfather nodded slowly.

"It does. Then the most important thing is finding this Sid now, and bringing him to the hotel, before the creature can get him."

They all nodded, grim smiles upon their faces.

Tristan sighed. "Ok, Joey; Mr. Muto, the Americans and I are going. Yugi, you and the others stay here." Even before he finished speaking, a storm of protestations broke out around him.

"I'm not going to stay here!"

"Why should we go with you?!"

"We are safe here, we are not going anywhere!"

Yugi and the Americans all started to argue at the same time, and Tristan was just looking at them, shaking his head. He should have known.

He took a deep breath. "Yugi, you are the sacrifice he needs to actually burn down the world. You going to him would be stupid."

Yugi glared at him. "That's just a hypothesis at the moment! And there's no guarantee that it's safer here, or that he doesn't pick another victim off the streets."

Tristan shook his head. "Oh, please, that guy is a world destroying force of darkness; those guys don't just pick up anyone from the streets. They set their mind on one victim, and then they won't accept no substitutes. They are stupid like that."

Yugi just looked at him. "You read way too many horror stories you know."

Tristan snorted, folding his arms in front of his chest as if offended. "No, I don't." But there was a hint of red on his cheeks when he said that.

At that moment, Yugi's grandfather stepped between them. "As fascinating as this discussion is, we don't have time for that." He turned towards his grandson. "I know why you want to come, but we can't keep running around in such a big group. That just makes it easier for him to find all of us in one place." That sounded way more logical than Yugi would have liked to admit.

He grudgingly nodded. "Divide and conquer. You know that usually when you divide your enemy, and not your own group?"

His grandfather shook his head with a smile. "Traditionally yes, but I found that this depends on the situation. Tristan's idea isn't bad. You and the Americans stay here"—it was impossible not to notice the look of relief that passed between Bonz and Zygor—"and wait if you hear something from Miho." She had promised to contact them immediately if the Medjay at the museum had found the mummy or any kind of new development or plans there. "And we three." He gestured at Joey and Tristan, "Look for the Egyptologist. Small groups are less noticeable."

Yugi still looked less than pleased at the arrangement, and his nod was curt and abrupt, but he wasn't arguing anymore. He knew his grandfather after all; the old man would not budge on this point.

Behind Tristan, Joey sighed. "Can't I stay here too? Help Yugi with, uh, reconnoitring?" Tristan shot him a look. "You just don't want to meet the mummy again."

The glare Joey levelled at his friend could have burned a hole through steel walls. "Yes, I don't want to meet the mummy again sooner than I absolutely must. At least I'm honest about that."

Ignoring the two boys fighting behind him, Yugi's grandfather turned towards the Americans. "Just so that we are clear: you two, keep an eye on the door. Nobody goes in here that isn't us." He was still looking friendly, smiling at them evenly, but there was a hint of steel in his eyes and voice, a clear threat which promised swift and hurtful retribution if anything should happen.

Bonz and Zygor shared a very nervous look. "Uh, yes, of course."

Yugi just rolled his eyes.

Tea had accompanied all three of them to the hotel's doors before she had to return to work. Neither the plagues nor the end of the world would keep the evening entertainment at the hotel from running its course, and Tea had assured them that she would keep her eyes open in case she could hear something useful. Together she and the Americans had at least been able to confirm Sid's home address.

Joey still threw a longing glance back at the brightly lit doors, even after her figure had disappeared. Damn, he really wanted to switch with her now. But he had no choice, no matter how much he protested aloud; there was no way he would leave Tristan and Mr. Muto to go alone on their quest, even if he had a very bad feeling about that. With one last deep breath he squared his shoulders, and followed Tristan and Yugi's grandfather into the darkness.

Despite it being night in the middle of the day, and the darkness lasting far longer than a solar eclipse rightfully should, the people of Cairo practically streamed onto the streets...or maybe it was because of those strange events that every meter of the bazaar was filled with people, walking and hurrying along, or just standing around and discussing in increased panic the lasting darkness. Quite a few of them recognised it as a sign of the world ending, having no idea that they were absolutely right this time.

In this mass of worried people, Sid, hurrying along from house to house, turning his head every few steps to see if somebody followed him, seemed to perfectly belong. The Book of the Dead in his hands might have caught a few glances under normal circumstances, being made entirely of stone as it was, and the golden ankh sometimes glinting out of his bag definitely would have been noticed, but these weren't normal circumstances. Sadly for him that meant that the figure following him, completely covered in hooded black robes, and features and neck hidden behind a metallic, ornate death mask, wasn't drawing any attention either. The figure turned its head, following his every movement, walking in the slow, even steps of a predator sure that its prey could not escape it.

It wasn't hard to find Sid's room; Tea had again been brilliant at filling in the holes in Bonz' and Zygor's knowledge. The house was typical for Cairo: a few very small rooms on the second floor of a building made from clay; and in a way that reminded Tristan a lot of both Yugi and his grandparents' place: filled with papers and books and papyruses strewn around. What was less typical was the white haired boy they found there, digging through the papers lying around as if he was searching for something.

Tristan gave him no chance to react to their sudden entrance. "Ryou! Nice to see you again. Let me guess, spring cleaning?" With a couple of steps he was at Ryou's side, grabbing the boy by his shirt, and holding him in place against the desk.

Ryou blinked up at him confusedly, eyes wide an innocent. "T-Tristan "What are you…?"

Tristan didn't let him finish, instead tightening his grip, and shaking him. "Cut the act, will you? We know what happened with you, nobody is falling for this."

For a moment Ryou still looked at him confusedly, then the look in his eyes changed, and he chuckled. "Too bad, I had a lot of fun playing the poor, helpless boy." An evil spark lightened up in his eye, and turning his head a bit he looked beyond Tristan, at Yugi's grandfather. "Mr. Muto, what a surprise to see you again. The Medjay really must be out of practice if you are still alive." He grinned at Yugi's grandfather, who flinched as if he had hit him.

"Ryou…" He took a step forward, stopping again. "I'm so sorry…" The guilt in his voice couldn't be missed, but the thing wearing Ryou's face just laughed.

"Sorry? For what, old man? I told you, I've had the time of my life these last few months. Can't speak for Ryou, though."

He grinned again, and Tristan decided that it was enough now. "Quit playing around. What are you looking for here?"

Ryou just grinned up at him. "What makes you think I would tell you?"

Now it was at Tristan to grin. "Quite simple." In one smooth movement, he tore Ryou's body away from the desk and into the middle of the room, and lifted him up until his head stopped shortly under the turning ventilator at the ceiling. "You talk or I'm making sure your host's body gets even smaller. I imagine that it would take you a while to find a new one." A bit of a bluff, he had to admit, because while the ring in Ryou's body definitely deserved worse than a beheading, Tristan was sure the real Ryou didn't. True, he had never met him, but nobody deserved to pay for another's crime. Still, he had no choice in the matter,; he needed to threaten this thing with something.

Ryou's eyes focused on the ventilator. He didn't say anything for a while, and Tristan was really starting to get afraid that he would call his bluff, when suddenly he talked again. "The book. That Egyptologist still has the Book of the Dead. I want it back."

Tristan snorted. "Bit possessive, are we?"

At this Ryou grinned, looking again at Mr. Muto. "Well, I can't go after your grandson without the right spell for the sacrifices, can I? That would be useless."

Tristan's hands tightened around Ryou's neck. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Joey balling his hands into fists, and Mr. Muto taking a step forward.

"You!"

To everyone's surprise it was Joey who held him back, despite his own eyes blazing with anger. "Wait." He looked up at Ryou, eyes drawn into mistrustful slits. "Why the hell are you telling us all that? That's way too nice for you."

For one endless moment the thing just looked at Joey. Then he laughed. It was a horrifying sound, loud and raw, and so dark that it was impossible to believe a human larynx could produce such a sound. "Because while you listen to me here, you miss my party elsewhere."

Before anyone could react, he jerked his leg forward, hitting Tristan directly in his most vulnerable part. Breaking down in pain, Tristan let him fall, which gave Ryou the chance to land like a cat on his feet and run straight to the next window, being covered only with an elaborate framework of wood. Joey and Yugi's grandfather hastened after him, but before they could reach him, he had already jumped.

Wood splinters rained down on the street as he landed at the same time as blood curdling screams echoed across the city. Joey and Yugi's grandfather shared a short look before hurrying to the window, Joey's eyes full of dread. It took Tristan a moment to follow them, every movement still sending waves of pain through him, but when he arrived at the window, even that pain was forgotten.

Horrified, he looked down at the bazaar. People were screaming, running into each other to back away from a shrivelled corpse lying in the streets. Despite it being completely dried up, just like Keith's corpse before, it was still clearly recognisable as Sid. A figure knelt at the body's side. A partially decaying hand reached out of the folds of the dark cloak covering it to take the book and ankh out of Sid's hands. A movement drew Tristan's attention to Ryou, stepping up next to the figure. He didn't say anything, but still the figure stood up suddenly, turning around to face the three at the window.

The face behind the cloak was almost completely human now, and at one point it must have been quite handsome. Skin which should have been dark had a grey look, laying almost like wax over the regenerating bone structure. A hole in the cheek, with a few sinews and muscles visible when there wasn't only the darkness of the mouth, was the only hint left pointing at the former rotten corpse. A pair of eyes, red as blood and creepily empty in expression, gleamed up at them, and then the mummy grinned. His jaw unhinged, hitting his breastbone, and a swarm of flies flew out of his mouth. they covered everything: the people running away in panic, the stands of the bazaar, the houses—and one part of it headed straight for the window where Tristan and the others stood.

Almost at once the three of them threw the window shut, Tristan leaning against it, while he could hear the constant chattering of the swarm's bodies hitting the wood. They were all breathing harshly, eyes wide, and Joey was shaking.

"Damn it. That's two down already. And we walked straight into his distraction."

Tristan snorted. "Guy's got luck, that's all." It was meant to lift Joey's spirits a bit, to calm his friend down, but at those words Yugi's grandfather turned his head to look at him, eyes dark and face clenched.

"Then we should hope his luck ran out now because he is going to come for Yugi next." His face was deathly pale and the chattering at the window made for a way too fitting chorus for those words.

Tristan looked at his companions, and summed the whole situation up. "Fuck."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Outside of the hotel the cries of the guards taking their places could be heard.Military protocol had taken over after a day like this, and it was calming to hear their sure steps on the walls, their voices claiming that all was in order, and mixed with the happy noise of the people celebrating in the bar below. Of course nothing was all right, but that would not stop anyone here from acting like it was. Stiff upper lip and all that, so very British. Bonz could get sick just thinking about it.

Nervously he turned away from the window and the unnatural night beyond it. His fingers trailed over the gun in his hands. Damn it, he couldn't stay put here any longer; he needed to move, to shoot something, preferably something that would actually go down when shot. At this point, waiting was killing him faster than the mummy would.

"To hell with this!" At his exclamation Zygor's head shot up in surprise. His friend had been walking holes into the carpet. The two of them were the only ones in the room's foyer. The boy, Muto, had gone into the bedroom soon after his friends had left, still clearly in a huff about being left behind. He'd locked the door behind him while insisting that they should knock if something happened. Bonz didn't really believe that the boy was truly asleep, no matter how silent he was. Probably was still fuming in there and burning off energies by walking. Though why the hell he wanted to be out there to face a mummy would remain an unsolvable mystery. He had a few ideas about how to better spend his time.

"I'm going downstairs to get me a drink. You want something?" He looked over at Zygor, who nodded.

"Yeah, get me a glass of Bourbon."

Bonz was already by the door when he heard Zygor scream after him. "And a shot of Bourbon." He nodded again, only to hear the room's door open one more time when he was halfway down the stairs already. "And a Bourbon chaser!"

Irritated he turned around. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get your damn Bourbon! I got it the first time." Shaking his head, he want off. Stupid Zygor. If he wanted so many drinks so badly he could at least go get them himself.

Zygor had just returned to the room and resumed his nervous pacing when a slight breeze began to stir, making the curtains flutter and the shutters rattle. Annoyed Zygor got up to close the window, hand already on the window sill, when a sudden movement—a shadow racing in the dark just right in the corner of his eye—made him stop. His hand grasped his gun tighter, and he leaned forward a bit, trying to identify what exactly was moving there in the dark.

It was the last thing he ever did.

The mass of swirling sand hit him with the power of an oncoming bus. He didn't have time to scream, barely enough to realise what was happening, as he got lifted up into the air. The sand turned and threw his body around, twisting it into every direction, with every movement sucking at his dry, cracked skin. When it finally threw him away, the body that hit the floor was shriveled up like a desert mummy, bereft of all life and with an eternally silent scream etched into its features.

The sand hit the floor before rising again, forming a clear human shape. The person who stepped out of the sand into the room was the one Tristan and Joey had seen in the market place, now nearly full restored. Barely any holes were left in his body, and when he moved to step over Zygor's body his movements were fluid and almost human. A pair of dark red eyes flittered over the room, resting on the door to Yugi's bedroom, and a dark smile appeared on the mummy's face before he stretched out his hand and began to turn back into sand.

Despite what Bonz thought, Yugi had actually succumbed to sleep almost as soon as the doors were locked behind him. He had tried to stay awake—to look through every book, every little bit of information he possessed on Egyptian magic—to figure out a way to end this nightmare before it got worse. There had to be a solution, he was sure. It was the same sureness which had guided him to Hamunaptra, which had made everything about the city so familiar, a dreamlike knowledge just out of his grasp. He couldn't explain it, but he knew that he knew the way to end this. He just couldn't remember.

Frustrated with himself, with the whole situation and this damned strange memory thing which only seemed to work to tease him, he had let himself fall down on the bed and closed his eyes, just for a moment, to think better. He had been out like a light, the days of lost sleep finally catching up with him.

Darkness took him, deep and endless and without thought, a comfort for the weary. But it was not meant to last. He couldn't say how long he slept, how long it took for him to notice the first strand of violet fog mixing in with the darkness. He had no body in the darkness, no conscious thought, and yet it still felt like he was himself when he took a step towards the fog. One more step, and another, and another, till the fog swallowed him whole, and he opened his eyes, still inside his dream.

This time his surroundings were familiar: twisting corridors and impossible stairs running along the ceiling and the walls, laughing at the bare thought of such trifling limitations as gravity or physics. And door—endless doors all looking the same in this twisted labyrinth of stone. It seemed to be the same place he woke up in last time. At least the vertigo wasn't as bad this time; his stomach only complaining mildly as his brain tried to make sense of what his eyes told him.

Carefully Yugi stood up, surer on his legs than before. Now he could start to see the first difference in his vision, and it was a worrying one. Deep lines were cut into the stone walls, some of them extending as far as his arm, as if something had tried to cut the walls to pieces. Stairs had been destroyed, stone rubbles lying around everywhere; doors torn from their angles, leaving only dark, gaping holes. Yugi turned around, a little bit scared as to what had happened here, when a voice behind him nearly made him jump out of his skin.

"You're back."

The clear surprise in those words was the only thing that kept Yugi from screaming. And of course there was the fact that this velvety baritone was quite familiar. Still, his heart was racing when he turned around—more of a jump than a fluid movement he had to admit—to face the one who had visited him during his loss of consciousness in Hamunaptra...which meant that Yugi had to let go of his assumption that that time had all been just a very strange work of his unconsciousness. One strange vision was still explainable, the same one twice not so much.

His visitor looked the same, still impossible gorgeous and sure, but as with the room there was difference to him too. He looked tired: the lines around his red eyes had deepened, and there was a look in them which Yugi couldn't really understand, but that struck him like a sword blow. He took a step forward, almost involuntarily wanting to comfort his visitor, to lift a bit of whatever was dragging him down off his shoulders before he stopped himself surprised, and a little bit scared by those thoughts. _What…?_ Instead he just shook his head, laughing a bit unsurely, and hoping that it didn't sound as afraid as he was. The visitor was still looking at him, and Yugi slowly realised that he was waiting for an answer.

"Ah… It looks that way?" He shrugged, but his visitor just looked at him, a hint of confusion in his eyes. It took Yugi a moment of really awkward silence to realise, that, his visitor having spoken Egyptian with him last time, there was a very good chance that he didn't understand the Arabic Yugi had used automatically for his answer. English was probably out of the window too. So he took a deep breath, and tried his first spoken word in a language he knew by heart but which he had never thought to have a chance to actually speak.

"I…It seems…to be so?" The words sounded heavy in his mouth, strange and halting. Nobody really knew how the Egyptians actually spoke—the way the text were read was educated guesswork—so Yugi was going out on a lot of trial and error, as fluent as he was. But, he could feel himself become more confident as he spoke, surer, as if he had always spoken that language. It helped that he had heard both his visitor and the mummy speak, as short and confusing both encounters had been. It gave him something to work with. "Honestly, I have no idea how or why."

His visitor nodded slowly at those words, understanding him, and that was the most important part after all. "I see. So you and your friends made it out of Hamunaptra alive. That's a relief" He smiled at Yugi, just for a second, but it seemed to lighten up his whole face, making it look gentler and easing the lines of worry etched around his eyes.

Yugi couldn't help but smile back, elated both at his triumph and the smile. He was actually speaking Egyptian, and he could be understood. His grandparents would be so proud when they heard that! That thought was enough to stop his smile. Yes, his grandparents would be proud and probably a bit envious as well. But, with the dark one on the loose, ready to destroy the world, there was barely a chance that either they or his friends would live long enough to hear that.

His visitor seemed to have read the look on his face, or maybe he was thinking along similar lines as Yugi, for he continued, closing his eyes for a moment before he spoke: "He is still hunting."

Yugi nodded. "The dark one? I know. My friends and my grandfather are currently trying to save the archaeologist from him." He turned away a bit when he said that, the first spark of worry coursing through him. Before he had been too angry at being left behind to think about the fact that his friends and his grandfather were walking directly into the creature's way, with barely any chance of defending themselves, and exactly zero chance of actually taking him down. Truth to be told, he had actually avoided thinking about them, trying to keep exactly this worry at bay. He couldn't help them—could do nothing but wait—and the fear about what might have already have happened gripped him with the force of a thunderstorm.

There was quiet noise behind him, the rustling of clothes moving, and then slowly Yugi felt a hand lying down on his shoulder. The gesture was so soft he could barely feel anything, but it felt warm and deeply comforting. Almost instinctively he leaned into the gesture, closing his eyes, while the stranger's voice, soft and comforting, washed over him.

"Your friends are still safe. He doesn't think of them as much more than an annoyance, so he just distracted them." The situation was way too serious to be amused by those words, but Yugi's still had to fight to keep back a smile. Neither Joey nor Tristan would be happy at being called nothing but an annoyance. Then the implication of the strangers words sunk in, and Yugi turned around, facing him wide eyed.

"And the Egyptologist?" He didn't need an answer, the look on the strangers face confirmed what he had meant by distraction. "Damn it."

The stranger nodded, face drawn and clearly worried "There are only two people left who opened the chest, and the Dark One is growing stronger every second." His eyes wander end over the room, they were standing in—the gorges left in the wall and the destruction around them—and anger and frustration lit up in his irises. "I can barely reach him anymore; much less do anything to hold him back."

It took Yugi a moment to recognise the feeling in the stranger's voice, buried under the anger: fear. His visitor was afraid, and somehow that made things even worse for Yugi. And it made his anger rise.

"So that is it? All is lost already?" He refused to believe that. There was always something to be done, one last trick to try. He ignored the voice in his head whispering that the Hom-Dai was quite likely exactly that last trick, instead focusing on his visitor with a challenging look. There was a spark of anger in those red eyes, probably at Yugi's tone, and he couldn't help but be angry about it. Good, so let him be angry, let him be mad at Yugi. Anything was better than fear and hopelessness. Fear was a paralyzer, locking you into your own heads; anger was the opposite; anger got things done.

For a moment their eyes locked, both sparking with anger and irritation, and neither willing to look away. Then the stranger tilted his head, and a small smile appeared on his face. "You clearly kept your spirit." He took a breath, and before Yugi could use this pause to ask what that should mean again, and why every supernatural being running around here seemed to know him somehow, he spoke again. "There might be something left to try." His gaze was calculating as he looked to Yugi. "He got resurrected using the Book of the Dead." The look he shot him now clearly contained a reproach that Yugi easily ignored. Yes, he knew what he did; he didn't need to be reminded about that again, justified as it was. "There is another book at Hamunaptra, its exact opposite."

He didn't get to finish what he wanted to say. "The Book of Amun-Ra, of course!" Yugi could have hit himself at this moment. He had thought and dreamed about this book nearly his whole life, and now, when it might actually contain the solution for his problem, he had completely forgotten about it. All this thought about balance and circles and he had overlooked the one thing that actually balanced the Book of the Dead.

He looked back up at the visitor, who regarded Yugi's slight attack with something that looked way too much like amusement sparkling in those red eyes.

Yugi narrowed his own eyes at him, but decided otherwise to ignore that. It was not the point right now. "You're saying it can stop him? Return him to the underworld?"

An unreadable look flitted over his visitor's face. "Not quite like that. But if you manage to find it, and read the first spell in it, I can take care of the rest." His eyes were hard when he said that, and his voice like cut glass. It was clear that the words were a promise. Yugi wanted to ask what exactly 'the rest' meant, but he didn't have time. The temperature around them suddenly plummeted, making Yugi nearly topple over with the abrupt change. Goosebumps appeared on his skin; cold crawled into every cell of his body and only now did he realise how warm and comfortable the air had been.

He looked towards his visitor, who had his head turned up, and stood now as still as if he actually was one of the pharaoh statues in the museum. "He's drawing closer to you. And he reached his third victim." A picture appeared in Yugi's head: Bonz and Zygor, sitting in front of his room, waiting alone for something they couldn't see coming.

He drew up. "I need to get back." It was something between and order and a statement, and while Yugi was relieved when his visitor only nodded, the confirmation of this small gesture alone was enough to turn his stomach into another round of whirls. A part of him had hoped for his visitor to contradict him, to state that it wasn't that urgent; that the dark one wasn't that close already.

"I'll send you back immediately. That way you've at least got a chance." His visitor was raising his hands again, and Yugi could see something on his forehead begin to glow, but before he could do anything, Yugi grasped his hands. His own were shaking, but he tried to ignore that. He needed to say this, and he didn't know why he thought that, but he was sure the other needed to hear it. They both needed a reassurance that this would go well, that they weren't alone in this fight.

"I'm going to walk out of that confrontation, and my friends and I are going to find that book." His words held the stranger's gaze unflinchingly. "Just try to hold him back long enough that there's still something left to use it for." The last words were spoken with a slight smile, and Yugi was threatened when his visitors smiled back.

"I'll do what I can."

Yugi nodded. "I know." He did. Somehow that was something he could never doubt, even if he didn't know why. "Can I just have your name before I go out there to face the incarnation of darkness on a destruction trip? I'd really like to know with whom I'm fighting, you know."

The laughter that was his answer, startled and surprised, rang in Yugi's ears like music. It didn't sound like his visitor had laughed a lot for a while now, a bit raw and unused, but it was still delightful, and his red eyes sparkled with mirth when he looked at Yugi.

"Atem. My name is Atem." He shook his head fondly, still smiling, and squeezed Yugi's hands. "May Horus and Seth guide you." With this last words a third eye on his forehead lightened up, and Yugi could only nod, heart still beating fast enough to break out of his chest, as the light consumed him. The last thing he felt was the feather light touch of the visitor's hands, warm and reassuring, break away, and then Yugi opened his eyes in his bedroom to the sound of sand streaming on the floor.

He slowly got up, eye fixated on the growing mound of sand in front of his door, just as the last grains fell through the keyhole. Yugi was just standing when the mound of sand exploded upwards, forming a very familiar figure. He was wearing the same clothes as in Yugi's dream; the face tilted a bit sideward as it mustered him, a teasing smile on his lips, a hurried parody of the smile Yugi had just seen. He was looking at Atem, and yet he was not looking at him. There was something terribly wrong about him, and that this wrong thing wasn't the last vestiges of his mummy status was even more unsettling. Like a bad copy of a statue, but he couldn't even pinpoint how. The worst thing was however that Yugi should have expected that.

There had been enough hints, between the story of the Medjay and Atem talking about holding him back, that everything should have been clear. And a part of Yugi had known, had expected Atem to be the Pharaoh who had sealed Zorc inside him. But knowing and actually understanding were two different things, and Yugi hadn't been prepared for the punch upon seeing the dark one wearing Atem's features,

The mummy must have seen his discomfort, for his smile grew darker. "You are awake. That's good. It's no fun dealing with someone who doesn't realise what's happening." He took a step towards Yugi while he spoke, his widening smile starting to decay again. The skin dried and flaked off; muscle strings turned brittle and hung loose, and the jawbone became visible. All the way through this nauseating spectacle his grin widened, and his eyes remained fixed on Yugi's. They were the worst part of this charade, looking so much like Atem's, but there was an emptiness in them, a lifelessness usually only found in the eyes of dolls.

Yugi was afraid his voice would break, but he still lifted his head to look at the mummy, while taking a step back and grasping frantically for something—anything—that could be used as a weapon. There was a burning candle on his nightstand; if the guy was still dry he should go up like tinder. "That's all you have to say? After all that terror around you, I didn't expect someone sounding like the bad guy of a third-rate radio drama." Brave words, which the slight shake in his voice sadly ruined a bit.

As a result, Zorc threw his head back and laughed. It drove pins into Yugi's stomach. It was Atem's laugh, down to the last sound, but without any of the warmness Yugi had just heard. The dead would laugh like that if they could. Then again, he was walking around wearing a mummified body like a suit, so that might actually be understandable.

At that moment the door behind the Dark One began to rattle frantically. Yugi could hear his friends, and his grandfather scream his name, and he couldn't help but scream back. "In here! I'm still ok."

Zorc turned his head back, looking sideways at the door, and then back at Yugi, whose hands grabbed that candleholder. "Your friends are very eager to die. Maybe I should do them that favour. And then you'll finally be my sacrifice." Still the speech of a radio drama bad guy, only it didn't sound less threatening in any way.

Yugi tightened his grip around the candleholder, and drew himself up. "You're going to be a dry corpse again before it comes to that."

Zorc took a step forward, grin finally giving way in to anger, but before he could do anything the door to the bedroom burst open, and Joey, Tristan and Yugi's grandfather stormed in, Tristan and the old man each carrying one of the Americans' guns at him.

"Get away from my grandson!" Yugi had never heard his grandfather sound so angry, or so scared.

With a look of pure annoyance on his face, Zorc turned around, just as Joey stepped up. He was clearly shaking, face so white he might have passed for a corpse himself, but he still held Zorc's look evenly when he raised his hands.

"Look what I got here! I brought a friend for you to play with." His shaking hands held up one of the hotel's stray cats, a beautiful black and white one that clearly didn't appreciate being held up, but that, taking one look at Zorc clearly appreciated him even less. Her face drew into an angry grimace and she hissed angrily at him.

The results were no less astonishing the second time. Zorc's face turned into a look of pure fear; he shrieked, stumbling towards the window that threw itself open, and, turning back into a whirlwind of sand, disappeared into the night. Silence settled over the room when they all looked at each other, nobody daring to say anything in case the mummy suddenly decided to make a comeback. Yugi carefully took a few steps towards the window, arm holding the candlestick raised over his head in a hopefully threatening way. He could hear Joey exhale.

"Oh my god, that cat thing actually worked." Yugi turned around to see his friend cuddle a squirming cat to his face. "I'm never going anywhere without a cat again. They are amazing!" Said amazing cat reacted by clawing his cheek, and using his slackening grip jumped to the floor to march off, head and tail raised high in rightful indignation. Behind Joey, Tristan turned his head to hide his laughter.

Yugi and his grandfather shared a short, hidden smile, before the old man's smile faded. "There is only Bonz left now. We found him with Tea at the bar, but he can't stay here."

So Zygor was the next one dead. A pang went through Yugi's heart, and his throat suddenly tightened. Another one being served a worse fate than he ever deserved. That had to stop.

He raised his head looking deadly serious from Joey to Tristan and his grandfather. "I think I have an idea on how to stop him. But we need to return to the museum for that."


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Later Yugi couldn't remember how they left the hotel, picked up Tea and a shaking and distraught Bonz at the bar, or reached the museum. Everything seemed to pass by at a haze, even as he walked through the halls of the museum with his friends, Isis, and the Medjay in tow. His mind was already racing ahead.

"According to the legend, the black Book of the Dead the Americans found at Hamunaptra is supposed to bring back the dead. I inadvertently proved at."

He could hear Joey snorting at that, and muttering something like, "Oh yes, you sure as hell did," which he decided to ignore.

"But if it can bring people back to life, then the Golden Gook…"

"Can kill him." The leader of the Medjay was striding beside Joey, eyes straight ahead and narrowed in thought. But he didn't argue against Yugi's and Atem's plan, which Yugi decided to take as a good sign for it possibly working. He nodded.

"That's what the myth says." The Book of Amun-Ra could kill everything and give control over to the dead. Even Ra himself was not immune to it. According to legend of Isis—the goddess, not his boss, which he was eternally grateful for, because the goddess might have turned him into a frog or something for the stunt in the library—the Book of Amun-Ra could kill everything and give control over to the dead, and even Ra himself was not immune to it. Yugi was at a point where he was willing to actually consider those stories a true. "Now we just have to find out where the Golden Book is."

They had reached the upper floor of the building. Yugi stopped in front of a giant stone plate, filled with inscriptions. It was placed directly in front of the great rosette window filling the wall opposite of it, bathing it in moonlight. This was the source that had set countless imaginations aflame: the first found mention of Hamunaptra, and the wonders the city contained.

And the only source which described the hiding place of the two magical books.

Yugi was about to kneel down in front of it, to reread the inscription, when a strange sound like loud chanting rose up from outside. They all shared a look, with Tristan rolling his eyes and moaning.

"Oh dear god, what the hell is happening now?" Then they rushed to the rosette to look down.

The whole street in front of the museum was filled up with people. They swayed a bit as they walked, eyes glazed over and in the moonlight it was clearly visible that the all were covered in boils and sores. They stepped forward as one, their voices mingling to a low, threatening chant. It was only one word.

"Atem. Atem. Atem…"

Joey sighed. "Great, my favourite plague. Boils and sores." He was shuddering as he spoke, eyes trailing over the people in front of the museum so wide you could barely see his irises any more. "They look like an army of zombies."

Next to him the Medjay's leader looked down with an unreadable expression. "They have become his mindless slaves. So it has begun: the beginning of the end."

Joey looked over to him. "Thanks. You really know how to lighten up the mood, don't you?"

The leader's eyes wandered over to him coldly, ready to answer him, when Yugi interrupted them.

"Not yet, it hasn't." Determined, he hastened back to the stone slab, and together with Isis and his grandfather, they started to read through the inscriptions, trying to find the part about the books. The continuing chorus of "Atem, Atem, Atem…" in the background wasn't helping. Yugi muttered along while he searched, trying to keep his head on the task and to drown out the voices. "According to the Bembridge scholars the Book of Amun-Ra is located inside the statue of Seth."

Bonz turned his head. "That's where we found the Black Book." It was the first time he'd spoken since they had found him at the hotel, and even now his voice was listless and his eyes empty. It was clear that he had already given up, overcome with grief, and Yugi could barely do more than throw him a sympathetic look because focusing on the task at hand and finding the Book as fast as possible was the only helpful thing he could actually do.

Joey snorted. "Looks like the old boys at Bembridge were terribly wrong about that." He was leaning at the wall next to the rosette window, fingers nervously drumming a rhythm on the wall, and eyes on the crowd below.

Yugi nodded. "Yes, they mixed the Books up. Mixed up where they were buried…" His voice trailed off, eyes fleeing over the hieroglyphic signs. _Come on, where are you?_ Beside him he could see his grandfather and Isis reading precisely, hunting for a needle in a haystack. But at least they knew the needle was there—they had all seen it before. They just needed it now. He should have thought to ask Atem about the location of the book as well; odds were he might actually know it.

"So if the Black Book is in the statue of Seth, the Golden Book must be inside…"

The chanting around him grew louder and louder, more threatening with each second, and there was a thumping at the doors downstairs which didn't raise much confidence either.

Tea turned her head towards him. "At least now I know where everyone was tonight instead of the bar. Yugi, I really don't want to stress you, but could you go a little bit faster?" She was still talking relatively calmly, but the strain in her voice, especially clear in the sing-song tone she only used when her nerves got extraordinary strained, spoke a clear story.

Yugi shook his head. "Patience is a virtue." Ok, maybe using the same sing-song tone as Tea back at her was not a good idea, but damn it, they were already working as fast as possible.

Joey's head flew towards him, looking at Yugi like he had suddenly grown two heads. "Not right now it ain't!" As if to underline his words, the first windows downstairs shattered, the voices of the crowd suddenly coming from everywhere. Joey's head flew back, eyes widening. "Uh, ahm, I'm going to…get the car started!" With that he turned around, almost flying down the back stairs so fast that he didn't see the leader of the Medjay turning to him, or how his lips turned upward in contempt.

"So he flees. What else did I expect?" The words were said so soft nobody could notice them, just like the look of painful disappointment in his eyes.

"I've got it!" Yugi's triumphant shout rang out through the room, drowning even the splintering of the doors below. "The Golden Book of Amun-Ra is at Hamunaptra, inside the statue of Horus!" He turned around to his friends; face glowing with joy and excitement. "Take that, Bembridge scholars!"

At that a loud crash downstairs heralded the door finally giving way to the zombie mob.

Joey ran across the court as fast as he could, directly to the court, where he knew the museum's cars were parked. He just had to reach them, pick the fastest, and hotwire it. Piece of cake. Or it was till a whole flood of the zombie people waltzed out of the door straight at him. They stumbled with every step, their voices a cacophony of the same name sounding out at different times and tines; eyes glazy, mouths hanging open, and the boils on their faces not looking better at close distance.

Joey froze on the spot. During the last few days he had seen a lot of his worst nightmares walking, but this group topped everything. It was as if that damned mummy guy had reached inside his head and picked out exactly what Joey was most afraid of. But still, he needed to get to those cars.

The zombies had almost reached him, and, on later nights when Joey woke up sweating, screams still dying on his lips, he couldn't say why he did what he did then. It was automatic, a strange dreamlike action, feeling like when he was just watching himself outside his body. Fear suddenly disappeared from his mind, and no thought, only action, remained.

He turned around, facing the same way as the zombies, folding his hands over his chest like the mummies at the museum Tristan had always used to scare him with, and eyes drawn as wide as he could, face as expressionless as possible be began to chant. "Atem, Atem, Atem…" His voice had certain rhythm to it, and as he slowly shuffled forward the mob drew even with him. They stopped, growing slower, more orderly as well, and with growing astonishment Joey could see them picking up his rhythm of speech, the many voices suddenly becoming one, and the crowd no longer agitated but calm.

He let himself fall back a bit, then more as it was clear that nobody paid him any attention. There weren't many of them here—thank god, the greater part probably located in front of the museum and not here at the backside—but those few moments it took for him to wade backwards through the crowd were still the longest of his life. It felt like he was walking through hell every step he took. Once Joey reached the rear end of the crowd he turned around and ran, through the portal and straight towards the car.

Yugi and the others just stormed out of one of the side entrances of the museum, the sound of the mob stamping blindly through the museum behind them, when a honking sound could be heard, and Joey sitting in a car turned around the corner. He stopped right in front of them.

"Let's go, let's go!" His voice leapt in loops, and his hands gripped the wheel so tightly they were white, but he was still keeping it together while they all piled into the car, and only hit the gas once they were all more or less safely seated.

They took off, just as the mob tumbled out the door. Ryou appeared in front of them, pointing after them. "They are here!" His voice rose even over the mob's chanting, and turning around, Yugi could see Zorc in Atem's body from behind the rosette. He screamed, that same unholy shriek that seemed to be his standard repertoire, unhinging his rotten jaw again. The windows on the whole front façade shattered, and the disease ridden zombies streaming out of them and the door was the last thing Yugi saw before the car speed up and raced away.

The car sped through the dark streets, careening dangerously from side to side with too many people clinging to it and trying to stay on. The narrow streets of Cairo's old city weren't really made for cars on the best of days, and this was definitely not one of those days. The zombie mob was behind them, moving far faster than any possessed people had any right to move, and once they passed the first stands at the market, more of those mummy followers started to jump out at them left and right, grasping at the car and the people in it and trying to tear them off.

Miho screamed when one of them grabbed her ponytail, turning around to hit it repeatedly with one of the few still undamaged library books she had taken with her. She hadn't exactly picked the lightest one, and the zombie dropped down almost immediately. Tea was using her hands and feet, kicking and hitting at the people trying to climb into the car, just like Tristan who clocked down two of the zombies who tried to scale the windshield of the car. The Medjay had their scimitars; and Bonz, who finally showed some signs of life again after his friends practically had to drag him out of the museum, had taken to shooting everyone who came too close. They were fighting them off, as good as they could, but it did nothing to dam the flood.

There were just too many of them, coming from every door, market stand and alley. Some even jumped from the roofs of the neighbouring houses and directly onto the car. There seemed to be not a single person in Cairo that night not under Zorc's influence, and while Joey did his best to keep the car moving, hitting stands and cutting corners and walls, screaming silently all the way, the fact that he barely could see anything with the people running from all sides at the car—and that they had no idea where they were going now, the maze that was Cairo having swallowed them completely—they never really stood a chance.

Joey turned the car sharply right when another zombie jumped onto the windshield. He managed to throw it off while swerving through a couple of stalls. Wood splitters and fruits rained down around them, and in that moment of chaos one of the zombies managed to grasp Bonz from behind. He lost his balance, screaming in terror while Yugi and his grandfather tried to hold onto him. But their hands only hit air as Bonz toppled backwards.

The moment Bonz hit the road he struggled to get on his feet again, hurrying away from the zombie people. He backed into a corner, holding onto the two guns, all that he had left of his friends. He had never been the best shot—that had been Keith's and Zygor's area—but he gave his best, dual wielding and shooting people left and right. And it was successful, he did manage to keep them at bay…till a soft clicking sound reached his ears, and no matter how many times he pulled the triggers, no more bullets were going to fly.

He let his arms sink, shaking hands still grasping the guns, waiting for the inevitable, for the mob to descend upon him. But they didn't; they just stood there, forming a circle around him, staring at him with their empty eyes. It was almost worse than if they had torn him to pieces. Eyes wide and panicked, he looked around, trying to find a way to move. But around him there were only mud walls, too smooth to climb and escape the zombie mob—which, just as he was looking at them again, began to part like the fucking Red Sea in the Bible, though the person wading through the masses was definitely no Moses.

The mummy, the Dark One, Zorc, whatever this fucking monster was called, walked towards him, slowly and regally like a king presenting himself to his people. He smiled at Bonz, who started to whimper. Tears were running down his cheeks. He just…he was just so afraid—he didn't want to die! Not now, not like this. His hand ran over his clothes, down into his jacket pocket, and he drew out the golden eye they had found in the chest at Hamunaptra. It seemed to be a lifetime ago; he could still remember their joy at their discovery, seeing Zygor's smile, hearing Keith's laughter and recalling how Sid's eyes had lit up when he had seen the Book. They had thought they had hit the jackpot, all they had ever dreamed about. His tears ran faster now, those happy memories burning through him like fire.

With shaking hands he raised the eye, offering it to the monster. Maybe it would be enough, maybe the creature would leave him be. The creature stopped before him, raising a hand decorated with a gold ring, to carefully take the eye from Bonz' hands. He smiled at him, a slight, gentle smile, even though those creepy red eyes still remained absolutely expressionless. The gesture looked too friendly, Bonz couldn't help but smile back, feeling the first small rays of hope filter through his mind. Maybe he would actually live…

Then the creatures smile widened, turning into cruel grin, it's jaw unhinged, and the last thing Bonz saw was a whirl of sand shooting at him while he screamed and screamed and screamed.

Far away from the market, deep into the winding and crooked labyrinth of Cairo's medieval core, the car slowly rolled to a stop. The friends were still sitting in there, or more accurately, clinging onto the seats for dear life, with Yugi's grandfather half-fallen out, being held by Tristan; Miho hiding behind her book; and Yugi clinging to the seatbelt. The Medjay were still at the rear, even holding on to their weapons, but even they looked now ahead, just like everyone else in the car. Joey's hands were now drawn so tightly around the wheel, it was impossible to imagine that he would ever let it go, and he stifled another whimper.

In front of them a whole sea of people stood unmoving. It was not possible to see an end to their numbers, and even thinking about breaking through with the car was nothing more than a foolish hope. Behind them, the sound of the other zombies closing in on them could be heard.

They were surrounded.

"Come on, get out of here!" The leader's order was barely more than a hiss, and yet they all scrambled out of the car, managing to cover a few meters until the zombies had once again surrounded them. They were not doing anything, just standing there looking at them and waiting. Joey's eyes hopped from one zombie to the next, panic rising.

This was the moment were he first started to actually believe that they weren't going to make it. Even in all the madness surrounding them, even when the plagues had rained down around them, he had still believed that they were going to find a way out. No matter how dark his life had been, whatever fight he had found himself in, he had always gotten up again and carved his own way out of hell. But this time—this stubborn condition, born from anger at a world which had never gifted him with anything, and which he had refused to surrender to—was beginning to falter. He could see no way out of this corner now.

So he did what he always did when panicking and screaming was already done with. He started to let his mouth court danger. With a grin that felt too wide to be anything but born of panic on his face, he turned towards the Medjay leader. "So, before the zombies are tearing us apart and feasting on our brains, can I at least get you name? Because I already know everyone else here, and I'd like to know with whom I'm going to die."

A pair of blue eyes wandered over to him, and one corner of the leader's mouth drew up to form that familiar, contemptuous smirk. "You are already giving up?" Something spared in his eyes when he said that, and Joey's grin turned a bit less panicking and more honest. He didn't get to answer however, because at that moment a ripple went through the mob. The zombies parted, leaving a path through which the creature walked now fully regenerated, and at the height of his power.

He moved slowly, almost lazily, a panther having cornered his prey and toying with it before he jumped. Every movement was fluid, a small smile resting on his face proclaiming his triumph.

Yugi's throat dried up. "Atem." The word was barely more than a whisper, his eyes never leaving the figure in front of him. He was now truly Atem's mirror, moving in the same way, wearing that same smile; everything was a perfect copy. Zorc had fully resurrected his prison, and it still looked so wrong.

The Dark One stopped a few steps in front of the group, regarding them all with a triumphant smile. Next to him Ryou appeared stepping out of his shadow, falling in step next to him. Zorc raised his hand, holding it out towards Yugi as if offering it to him, and with that same triumphant smile he began to talk. Ryou started to speak at the same moment, translating the Egyptian words for the others.

"You have lost, my sacrifice. It is time for me to rule forever." It was just a minor point, not really important, but Yugi still flinched when he heard that translation. He regarded Ryou with a look full of contempt.

"For all eternity," Yugi corrected. "You are the same person; you should get it, right?"

Next to him he saw his grandfather smirk, and he was sure he heard Joey snicker. Ryou just shot him a look that clearly conveyed his opinion that he didn't care one bit for Yugi's correction, and continued to speak as if nothing had happened.

"Take my hand and I will spare your friends."

Atem's mirror raised his hand enticingly, still smiling, and Yugi exhaled a deep breath. "Oh." That was all he could say, his mind racing. That…just couldn't be true. The guy was evil personified; there was no reason for him to keep any bargain he offered. Yugi could recognise a game a mile away, and that bastard was just toying with them, he knew it. But he still couldn't ignore that offer in good consciousness, not when there was still a chance…

He turned towards the others. "Anybody got any bright ideas?"

Tristan shrugged, while Joey murmured, "I'm thinking, I'm thinking." The others just looked at Yugi, with his grandfather standing out the most, eyes full of worry and sadness.

"He won't keep his words, you know that. Doing this is madness."

Yugi gulped. "I know. But this is our only chance." He took a step forward, just as his grandfather grasped at him to hold him back, and screams arose around him.

"Yugi, no!"

"Don't do this!"

"Have you lost your fucking mind?"

Yugi just stepped up towards Atem's mirror, throwing one last look back at the others. "He still has to take me to Hamunaptra for the ritual to work." Again, he had no idea where that bit of conviction came from, but those strange realisations hadn't lead him wrong until now, so he was willing to trust it. He still could barely hold himself back from running when Zorc's hand closed around his. Even his touch felt wrong.

"No!" Joey screamed, running forward to deck the bastard, to hit that fucking annoying smile off his face. A pair of strong hands stopped him, holding him back while he vainly struggled to get free. "Damn it, let me go, this is madness!" He turned his head up at the Medjay's leader, who shook his head.

"He is right. Live today and fight tomorrow. You should know that." That arrogant bastard had a point, but that didn't mean that Joey had to like it.

Yugi shot a last, hopefully uplifting, smile towards his friends, only to stumble when Zorc's hand suddenly shot forward to grasp something out of his pocket.

"Hey, that's mine!" He tried to grasp for the key to the city, which Zorc just raised over his head and out of his reach.

"No. Where you are going, you're not going to need this."

Yugi ground his teeth at those words, fear running through him again—because he was very sure he was actually going to need that key, despite what Zorc may claim. It had opened up both the coffin and the Book of the Dead; the odds of it also opening the Book of the Living were good enough that Yugi probably wouldn't have gotten a lot of money for that bet at the bookies. Also, Zorc had probably a good reason for taking it, which meant he had to find a way to get it back.

Erstwhile he could do nothing but let Zorc drag him away, Ryou hot on their heels. Zorc's mob puppets began to close ranks behind them, and Zorc gave his order without even glancing back.

"Kill them."

Yugi had thought that this would happen, and still the words hit him with the force of a sledgehammer. He turned around, tried to free himself from Zorcs grip, to return to his friends, but it was all in vain. His captor's grip was like steel. "Let me go! No! No!" Yugi's screams could be heard through the moving zombies, but only for a while, and then the flood of people drowned out everything. They were moving slowly, descending like vultures circling their prey, but they didn't have to move fast. There was no way left for them to escape.

Joey fell a step forward once the leader's grip loosened, cursing while he got up again. Fuck it all, that couldn't be the end. Not like this, not being torn to pieces by zombies while Yugi walked off to play human sacrifice and the whole world would face its last sunrise by tomorrow. His eyes jumped around, looking for something, anything, that could be useful—a weapon, an escape route…only to settle on a round manhole in the ground. His eyes widened, and he grimaced. Fuck, that was not the nicest smelling way, but it wasn't like they were looking for a stroll in the park after all.

"Hey!" He gestured at his find, and one second later, Tea, Tristan and Malik were busy lifting the lid of the hole. And then the zombies were upon them, and everything turned into a haze of punches and fighting, tearing clothes and skin and screams, trying to buy enough time for everyone to make it into the sewer.

Miho was the first to go down, followed by Tristan, and then Tea. Out of the corner of his eye Joey could see Isis draw a sword, starting to hack away at the zombies, to drive away those that had gotten too close to their only escape route. Yugi's grandfather climbed down next, followed by Malik, who gestured impatiently at the others. Joey felt himself grabbed by the shoulder, and was shoved quite unceremoniously down the hole by the leader, who followed him. The last thing Joey saw was Isis, climbing down at the last second and closing the hole just as the mob's arms reached for her, and then there was nothing but darkness and the stench of the Cairo sewer.

How long they walked through the stinking darkness Joey couldn't tell. It seemed to be hours, filled with trying to breathe as little as possible, and strained listening for any sound in the dark: the dripping of the sewer, the hurried movements and squeaking from what was hopefully rats, which could possibly herald the zombies coming after them. But they actually seemed to have lost the mob, and when they rose from a drainage pipe right at the shore of the Nile, just as the sun was rising again, Joey was ready to declare their survival a bloody miracle.

They were alive, all of them—not in the best shape, but that was more than he had expected already, so that was good. And they had a mummy to stop.

They had barely time to catch their breath, when the Medjay leader turned around to face them. "The creature is going to return to Hamunaptra for the ritual. And since he is fully regenerated now, he can travel the desert as fast as a storm."

Tea nodded. "So we need to beat him to it." Her eyes, set on the rising sun at the horizon, narrowed in thought. "I think I know a guy who could help us. But we can't all go." Throwing a look over the group, exhausted and wounded, with Miho nearly falling over where she stood, Isis clutching her wounded arm, and Malik also not looking quite fit, Joey shook his head.

"You know, I don't think anybody's going to complain about being left behind, if you know a safe place."

Tea's answering grin should have probably worried him a lot more than it did. "Oh yes. I know somewhere like that."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

After the night they just had in Cairo, the military airfield just a couple of miles outside of the city looked disturbingly normal. With personnel and transport animals milling around the tents under the bright sun it was clear that nothing that happened in Cairo had even touched the airfield.

Joey had hotwired the first car they had stumbled upon, nobody looking back to the city. Isis and Malik had left them after a short discussion with their leader before the trip, opting to return to their own people and get them ready. As the leader had explained, in his usual clipped tones, if their quest to Hamunaptra failed, the Medjay were they only ones who could hope to hold Zorc back a little longer. With that optimistic statement it was hard not to look forward to their trips, especially once Tea guided them towards a tent at the outskirts of the camp, and the plane waiting next to it. Tristan's face froze the moment he realised just who the black haired devil standing next to the plane was.

"Duke!" Tea was already shouting at him, and Duke's head shot up in surprise before a charming grin appeared on his face.

"Tea! What a nice surprise to see you again." He walked over to them, bowing to kiss Tea's hand, and to wink in Tristan's direction. "And your charming friend." His eyes wandered over the whole group again, and Tristan could only imagine what picture presented itself to him. Tea's dress was torn, covered in slime and god knew what else from the sewer, just like her hair. Tristan, Joey and Yugi's grandfather didn't look much better, and they all were covered in in various cuts and smaller wounds. And then there was the Medjay warrior standing next to them, clothing equally destroyed, and glowering darkly at everything.

But Duke only blinked and shook his head at the smile. "Looks like I missed quite the party last night. Any reason why you didn't invite me?" The tone was easy and teasing, but his green eyes were sharp, and when Tea smiled back, her smile could have cut glass.

"Don't worry, you're getting invited now." She folded her arms in front of her chest and sighed. "Though you better sit down for this, because you're not going to believe the story I've got for you."

It took them nearly a quarter of an hour to bring Duke up to speed, and that was only telling him the highlights. He was looking more and more intrigued the longer they spoke, a dangerous glint appearing his eyes. When they were finished, he leaned forward, resting his face on one of his hands.

"So let me get this straight. You're chasing a mummy through the desert to the most famous lost city since Atlantis?" At their nods he grinned even more. "And what does this little problem have to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Force."

Tristan shrugged. "Not a damned thing."

Duke's cat green eyes focused on him now, and he seemed to grin even more at that. "But it's dangerous."

Again Tristan could only shrug. "Well, most of the people we ran into died, so the odds are not great." The amount of delight that statement elicited was actually quite disturbing.

"And the challenge?" God, that bastard was now only asking questions for the heck of it. Nice to see that someone here was having fun, but now was not the time.

Tristan's eye twitched, he took a step forward, and built himself up in front of Duke, arms folded over his chest. "Listen buddy, it's real simple: we help the captive, kill the mummy, steal his treasure and save the world, and probably die while we are at it. Are you in or not?"

For a moment nothing happened. Duke just looked up at him. Then, still grinning, he stretched and rose, so that he and Tristan were now standing eye to eye, so close that their noses were nearly touching. "Sounds like my kind of party all right." He leaned back a bit, giving Tristan space to breathe again. His head was suddenly swimming, and his breathing was strangely heavy now. Then Duke snapped into a teasing salute towards the whole group. "Duke Devlin, at your service."

At the end, Tea and Miho remained behind at camp, catching their breath and trying to find a way back to Cairo to check the situation there; and in Tea's case, trying to re-establish contact with the hotel after she had walked out without notice last night. The events following that probably meant that nobody really noticed, but she wasn't taking any chances. Once Tristan saw how they were going to journey to Hamunaptra, he really wished he could join them. Walking back into zombie infested Cairo would be a pleasure compared to this.

It wasn't even Duke's plane itself, top of the art model and the Royal Air Force had to offer. But it had only two seats, one for the pilot and one for the shooter at the rear, which meant that two guys had to be bound to the plane's wings, lying flat on them, while the third would have to be bound to the planes weapon itself, clinging onto it for dear life. Not one of those scenarios looked like they could actually work, no matter how sure Duke sounded when he waved off Tristan's concerns. The guy grinned when being told that he might die on this mission; he clearly was insane.

But it was the only solution they had, and so, barely an hour after they had reached the airfield, the plane took off, with Duke flying, Yugi's grandfather sitting behind him, Tristan clinging to the gun, and Joey and the Medjay leader lying on the wings. If they even managed to get halfway to Hamunaptra without crashing, it would be a miracle worth restoring faith in any religion.

Far away from Cairo, a large sand storm raced across the desert. When the mountain range of Hamunaptra became visible in the distance, it suddenly stopped and began to dissipate. Two small human forms were thrown out of it, landing only a few steps away from each other in the desert sands. Yugi groaned, feeling every bone and muscle in his body hurt from the impact. The desert sands might have softened his fall a bit, but with the speed at which he had been thrown out of the storm, this same sand was almost as hard as stone. It was a wonder he hadn't broken anything.

A hand appeared in his field of vision—Ryou, who had already managed to get up again, offering to help him up. "Are you all right?" If Yugi hadn't known better he would have thought that Ryou sounded almost worried. Too bad a fast look up towards his grinning face killed that impression immediately.

Angrily wrinkling his nose, Yugi pulled himself up. "Just peachy, can't you see that?"

Turning around to ignore Ryou, he could see the sandstorm receding, the swirling sands churning to form Atem or Zorc again. The Dark One stretched and turned his head towards the heavens, as if listening for something. It didn't take Yugi long to hear it too: the low hum of an approaching plane.

If Joey never came close to a plane again, it would still be too soon. His hands were clinging so hard to the plane's wings that he was sure he was going to tear a hole into it any moment now, and then they would crash and die. Or despite Duke's cheerful assurances that the leather straps binding them would hold, they wouldn't and he would fall down and crash and die. Either way, this journey ended with a crash and death. Of course, maybe he would feel a little bit better if he hadn't caught a glance at the medjay leader strapped on the other plane wing, and noticed that he was smiling. That bastard was enjoying this mad trip! It was just a confirmation of what he had suspected since this whole stupid adventure began: he was surrounded by madmen.

At least their pilot actually seemed to know what he was doing, and with Yugi's grandfather giving the directions they were actually covering quite a sum of ground. He was almost sure, on these few occasions on which he dared to open his eyes, that he could see the mountain range surrounding Hamunaptra rising out from the desert. In barely a minute they would reach it, and then they could land, and then the fun part of this trip would really start: facing the incarnation of darkness wearing a mummy's body like it were clothing.

Joey couldn't wait.

Zorc turned around, arms spread out, and rose upwards, with his jaw unhinging again, followed by what was now slowly developing into his signature shrieking. In front of him, a gigantic wall of sand rose up from the desert, and with one quick movement of his hands, the Dark One let it race forward.

In his cockpit Duke blinked, before turning his head slightly to his two passengers behind him. "Hey, do you see this?" He gestured at something to his left, that, as Solomon turned his head and Tristan dared to pry open one eye, turned out to be a gigantic wall of sand heading straight at them. "I've never seen a sandstorm that big."

Tristan gulped, before answering. "And you probably never will again! That's him!" They had to scream to be heard above the wind, and there wasn't time for another sound because then the storm was already above them.

The little plane was torn in all directions, winds and sands throwing it around like child would a toy. Millions of grains of sands, made razor sharp by the wind, scraped through the metallic hull, and began to rip holes into the wings. Duke still somehow managed to keep the plane in the air, but at this point he had as much control over it as he had over the movements of the wind. Then the sandstorm began to change; next to the plane a face appeared through the grinds, grinning at its prey before opening his mouth as if to swallow them whole.

Yugi could only watch horrified as the plane, only a small dark speck in the sandstorm, began to spiral down faster and faster. He flew around to face Atem's mirror, whose arms lowered as watched the scene with an unreadable look.

"Stop! You're going to kill them!"

Behind him he could hear Ryou snorting, and Yugi didn't even need to turn around to know the smile Ryou wore on his face. "Of course. You realize that that's exactly the point, don't you?"

Yugi growled, sparing him an angry look, and ran through the sand towards Zorc. He had no plan on what to do when he reached him, only knowing that he had to find some way of stopping him. Thoughts—small pieces of conversations, of distant voices—flittered through his mind, so fast that he could barely process them.

 _For the past 3000 years the pharaoh has held Zorc back._

 _I can barely reach him anymore, much less do anything to hold him back._

 _Gave him an edge in his battle with the pharaoh._

The destruction in the room where he had met Atem… Atem was still fighting, still trying to stop Zorc, as much as he could. But he needed an edge and since Yugi didn't have the Book of Amun-Ra now, maybe…maybe he could do something different, something that could draw Atem out, or at least confuse Zorc so much that it wouldn't matter.

Atem's face appeared in front of his eyes as he stopped next to Zorc. That slight, kind smile, the red eyes sparkling in amusement… Zorc turned his head towards him, so much like Atem's and yet so different, and Yugi made his move. Closing his eyes to focus on the picture in his mind, not the face in front of him, he grasped Zorc's face, and kissed him.

For a moment there was nothing, no reaction, no movement. Nothing. Then, slowly, Yugi could feel something, the lips under his own parting slightly, head tiling; could feel his own mouth answering, himself falling. The sounds of the storm around them seemed to completely disappear, as if nothing existed but this one second in time.

It could have lasted forever.

A fast movement to his right, an arm brushing against his, threw Yugi out of his trance. Blinking, still hazy from what he had just experienced, he opened his eyes to see a pair of red eyes looking down at him—warm, alive, smiling and full of fondness and pride.

Atem. His eyes moved away from Yugi's face, towards the storm, and, still a little bit dizzy, Yugi turned his head to see Atem lifting his hand. The sandstorm slowly dissolved, the much maligned plain swirling down, its fall now much more controlled, almost gliding down till it hit the sand.

Yugi turned around in Atem's arm to throw him a relieved smile, caught his answering one—

Only for a metaphorical door to slam in Yugi's face, and with a look of pure anger Zorc threw Yugi away from him. He landed almost ten meters away from him, but Yugi just grinned up at the Dark One, eyes burning triumph.

"Looks like your control isn't as good as you think." It was probably a stupid idea to anger Zorc even more, but really, what was the guy going to do? Kill him? He was already going to be sacrificed.

Zorc didn't even try to answer him, just shot him a look full of loathing while he walked past Yugi, leaving it to Ryou to drag him onto his feet again. All the way to Hamunaptra that grin didn't leave Yugi's face.

The landing was much smoother than it should have been, but it was still a crash. Duke was already climbing out of his seat the moment the plane's nose broke the sand, loosening the bonds keeping Tristan in place, while Solomon started on the ones holding Joey and the Medjay leader. Tristan almost fell down into the sand, incapable of moving, and Joey was still clinging so hard to his wing that they almost had to tear it down.

But they were alive, miraculously alive.

Duke turned around, flashing them all a smile. His eyes were sparkling with joy. "Well, that was quite a ride, wasn't it?" Tristan was already opening his mouth to tell him exactly what he thought about this ride, when the plane suddenly began to move and sink down in the sand.

"Quicksand! Keep back that's quicksand!" They didn't need the leader's warning that much, save for Duke who ran towards his seat to grab a bag from it. They all jumped back and moved out of the way, and he followed them shortly.

In silence they watched the plane sink, Tristan shooting Duke a sympathetic glance.

"Sorry for your plane, mate."

Duke just shrugged. "It's not that bad I was thinking about switching out for a different mode of air travel anyway. And I got what I need right here." He lifted the bag he had grabbed, and winked at Tristan. Then he shook his head. "No, seriously, I'm going to be all right. I've seen some camels wandering around here from the air, so why don't you guys continue on your little quest, and I'll see if I can catch us a ride home?"

They shared a short look and nodded, before the leader turned around. "Then let's go. We've lost enough time here." He turned around, walking ahead and not waiting for the others to follow him.

Shaking his head Joey looked both at him, and at the city ahead of him. "Here we go again. Oh joy." With one last sigh he started moving too.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

They followed the leader towards the city using a different way than the main entrance. Through a small, barely noticeable opening in the northern wall they climbed down a long, winding staircase leading directly into the labyrinth under the city. Joey couldn't tell if they had been at this part before; all these stone corridors looked pretty much the same to him, and during their flight in the dark at the end of their last stay, he hadn't exactly paid attention. But the leader showed no hesitation, moving in the weak torch light as sure as if he had walked these paths all his life.

He only stopped once in front of what looked like a doorway, blocked by a wall of fallen stones. "Behind this door lies the fastest way to the ritual chambers and the treasury, the heart of Hamunaptra. He will go there to complete the ritual, and the Statue of Horus must be close to the treasury."

Solomon's eyes darted over the rocks ahead of them, and a determined look appeared in his eyes. "Well, we better get to work pulling stones then."

It seemed to take forever to move those stones, though in reality it couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes. They were halfway through the landslide when Joey looked up with an irritated glare, intending to ask the Medjay's leader if there wasn't another way to the ritual chamber and that treasury—no matter how much longer that way would be, it had to be faster than digging through stone—when out of the corner of his eye a small glint of light caught his attention.

He blinked curiously, looking over to his friends who were still hard at work, and took a step forward to see where this glinting had come from. There hadn't been a lot of decorations in the corridors under Hamunaptra, and anything sparkling had turned deadly in his memory, so he should probably check this thing out before it jumped at them from behind and buried itself into their neck or something. It had come from a wall, just beside the blocked doorway, and been right in Joey's field of vision. When he stepped closer, he realised that it had been a carved amulet, laid in into some sort of wand relief and shaped like one of those damned human eating scarabs that had chased them through these corridors before. He shivered just looking at it.

Turning his head slightly, Joey called back to the others. "Guys, you might want to take a look at this." Fuck this, maybe he was being paranoid, but things looking like these harmless bug ornaments had given him enough nightmares to keep him up for decades. There was no way he was not going to check in with the proven expert on any horrors and traps in Hamunaptra if this ornament was harmless or not.

The Medjay's head shot up, levelling Joey with an impatient and irritated look, right when the ornament wiggled and fell out of the wall.

Joey's hand moved out on its own to catch it, just as instinct made him jump back. It fell straight into his hand.

For a moment it just lay there, unmoving, and Joey, barely daring to breathe for fear of making any move that could awaken this thing, slowly relaxed, almost close to convincing himself that he had only imagined it wiggling. This whole city was making him so paranoid. He saw shadows moving in every corner, and then the stone shell suddenly cracked.

Joey had barely time to scream, before a fully formed scarab, the exact same beast as all the others from before, jumped out of the stone shell, and buried itself into his hand. The pain wasn't even the worst part; it was the look of this bump moving directly under his flesh, burying itself up his arm with a speed he could barely believe. The others were at his side at the first scream. Tristan ripped up Joey's shirt, but that only gave everyone an even better look of that moving bump.

Joey followed it with his eyes, the constant pain an aftereffect in his mind to the surety that this was how he was going to die. The bug would bury its way straight up to his brain and that was it… Just like Kokurano. The sudden realisation on their old involuntary travel companion's death jumped at Joey with the same speed as the bug. It was not a memory which gave him much consolation.

Then suddenly a strong hand grabbed him at the shoulder, pushing him against the wall to keep him from moving, and Joey looked up the see the Medjay standing so close to him that their faces were almost touching. The Medjay's eyes narrowed on the bug, and he held a knife Joey remembered very well from their fight in the boat in his hand. He had just time to think that a mercy killing by knife was probably either meant as a nice gesture or revenge for all the times their had fought, and was in neither way preferably to death by bug, when the Medjay jabbed his knife into the bump, just as it was passing Joey's shoulder. One flick of his hand, which looked worryingly well practiced, and the bug was thrown out of Joey's skin, landing on the sandy floor on its back and still moving all its tiny legs.

It jumped around, and scurried back towards Joey, clearly set on finishing what it started, or maybe just wanting to get back to its meal. Tristan pulled out one of the guns he had borrowed from the late American's stash and shot at it. The bullet hit its mark, blowing the scarab to pieces, but also ringing out through every corridor in the vicinity.

In the ritual chamber, Ryou stopped his tries to drag Yugi up to the altar, where Zorc was already waiting. All three of them turned their heads towards the sound, Yugi looking both hopefully and desperately at the unstealthily approach, the other two with equal looks of fury on their faces.

Zorc took a few steps down from the altar, scowling, and picked up a handful of sand from the ground. He said a few words, which came down to ordering the "souls of the lost and damned, buried without name and ritual, without hope for judgement or afterlife" to "raise up and follow my command, take your revenge upon the ones who failed you." Not a very comforting thought, even more so when he blew the sand towards one of the walls of the ritual chamber.

It was a beautifully decorated one, depicting one of the worker's scenes found so commonly in the tombs of higher officials in Thebes. Carved out in delicate low relief, the figures were life size, showing workers building a city, carrying treasure into a building and other various, associated tasks. Then the stone broke open like it exploded from inwards, just where the forms of the workers were depicted, and badly dried-up corpses—in some cases carelessly warped in some bandages, in others dressed in rags which might at one point have been simple _shedj,_ placed into the wall in the exact same position as the forms of the workers depicted on the surface—tumbled out with a horrifying screech, and Yugi was hit with a terrible realisation.

Those scenes…they depicted the building of Hamunaptra, the burying of the few honoured people here…and the workers who did this weren't just killed and buried in the desert sands. Their corpses had been placed inside those walls, depicting the work that killed them for all eternity, and thus they were forced to repeat it for all eternity. The same held true for the soldier who killed them; Yugi saw some armed mummies jumping out of pictures depicting soldiers too.

"The Bembridge scholars never wrote about this." He barely noticed himself speaking; the whole room seemed to turn around him like a terrible kaleidoscope.

He eaguely noticed how the mummies bowed to Zorc, and how he ordered them to wake the others and kill his friends. His stomach revolted and his head spun. It was too much. On top of everything that had already happened the last few days, his world went black around him.

Joey and the others had finally finished moving the stones out of the way and were now proceeding through another labyrinth of passages. It hadn't taken the Medjay's scornful admonishing that the Dark One now surely knew where they were, to make the situation and hurry they were in clear. Still the guy had saved Joey's life, and so, even though it was clear that talking as the last thing he had on his mind, Joey hurried up a bit to catch up with him. Tristan and Mr. Muto were a few steps behind them now, and Joey gulped, his throat suddenly dry, and himself oddly nervous before he spoke.

"Hey, I still… Thank you. For earlier."

The Medjay turned his head, barely acknowledging that Joey had spoken, but his eyes lingered on him, which was enough for Joey to continue.

"You saved my life. I owe you something."

The Medjay's eyes wandered back straight ahead. "It was nothing." Maybe Joey imagined it, but his voice didn't sound quite as disdainful and uninterested as before.

He shrugged. "For me it was, I kinda liking being alive." They passed a few meters in silence, before Joey's spoke again. "But it looked really well practiced… Is that your usual technique for dealing with them?"

Silence was his only answer for a couple of minutes, and he was already sure that his companion would never deign to talk with him again, when the Medjay suddenly spoke again.

"They are a pest in this place. The singular ones are easy to get out, but if they come in a swarm you need fire." He turned his head and Joey was sure he saw him grinning at him, which probably took the price for the weirdest thing happening in this place. "Did you really think those who guard this place can't deal with its traps?"

Oh good, everything was normal again. That smile and the tone was condescending. For a moment Joey had almost been worried.

Then the Medjay turned around to nag at them all, ordering them squeeze through a small crevice in a wall to drop into a dark chamber, and everything was right back to how it should be. Even though Joey couldn't help but suspect that apart from the fastest way, that guy was also choosing the most uncomfortable one purely out of spite for that gun shot. He wouldn't put it past him.

The place they landed in was completely dark, save for a shaft of light coming in from above. Joey saw the Medjay moving, just a shade in the dark towards a place in the wall next to where the light shaft hit. He lifted up a mirror plate, and at this moment Joey realised what he intended to do, just in time to slightly close his eyes as to not be blinded temporarily when the light bounced off from one mirror disk to another, lighting up the whole room. Just the same as Yugi had done when they had entered the embalming chamber, and damn it, if that thought didn't make Joey's throat tight. Yugi had been so proud back then, happy with himself that his theory had worked…

But Yugi was ok. He was still alive, and they would still be on time. Joey had to hold onto that thought. With one deep breath he opened his eyes, only for them to suddenly widen and blink unbelievingly.

They were standing in room—no a _cavern_ that made the cave of Ali Baba and his forty thieves look like small change found under the sofa. There were mountains of gold and jewels, and jewellery and decorated weapons, reaching so far Joey couldn't even see the end of the room. Statues depicting various people and gods, carved from stone, as well as cast from diverse metals, lined up along a small path leading through these mountains of treasures.

He turned towards the others. "Can you see…?"

Tristan just nodded. "Yeah."

Joey could see jewellery—necklaces, and bracelets, and sceptres—but also furniture, like those strange beds he knew from the museum, and something which looked like a chariot. It all made Joey laugh a little breathlessly. "Can you believe…?"

It was Yugi's grandfather who answered this time, a bit more curtly, and not quite as impressed, but still. "Yes." It was almost too much to take in all at once, and so while he followed the Medjay and Yugi's grandfather through the room, his eyes wandered from left to right. The riches of Egypt indeed.

"Can we just…?" His question got interrupted before Joey even got started.

"No." The tone was short and final, and the Medjay actually turned around for a second to glare at Joey. Then he turned back again, and continued on, leaving Joey and the others to follow him, without a single glance for all the riches around him. As if Joey's mere question had just offended him.

Joey glared at him, anger coursing through him. Caring not for gold but for water, as Yugi had put it, may be well enough for him and his people, but really he had no right to judge Joey on this, not when he didn't understand a thing about what propelled this question. So much money, probably enough to keep the whole of Cairo if not Egypt itself well fed and in comfort for years, and it was all just laying around here, where it was of no use to anyone. Serenity wouldn't have to worry about her operation at all with just two of those jewels lying next to him, and that sceptre there was made out of pure gold…

Letting his eyes flitter to the Medjay still walking ahead, Joey bent down quickly, and picked up the sceptre, and the jewels. He couldn't carry a lot, hh knew that, but along the way picked up a trinket here and there and let it disappear into his pockets.

They had made it halfway through the room when suddenly the ground ahead of them began to shake, and cracks appeared in it. Seconds later, two rotten hands, wrapped in loose hanging bandages, broke through the floor, followed rapidly by the rest of the mummies growing out of the ground like a pair of nightmare daisies.

They stood up and focused on the group, which had stopped a few feet ahead of them, and pulled the same old trick Zorc liked so much: unhinging their jaws and screeching. Maybe it was mummy thing; Joey was too afraid to judge.

"Who the hell are those guys?!" He stumbled back, even as he took a gun from Tristan, who seemed to have borrowed all of the late Americans' personal arsenal. The Medjay's eyes never left the mummies, while he aimed his own weapon, which looked suspiciously like a Lewis gun.

"People buried without ritual and remembrance. Being nameless and unable to reach the afterlife, they fall under the Dark One's control."

Joey raised an eyebrow. This place just was full of charming surprises wasn't it? Well, he wasn't going to sleep ever again already, so… "Alright then."

With that they opened fire on the advancing mummies. In a nice surprise, they actually went down which really differentiated them from their leader. The bad news was, they also got up again—or rather, their torsos crawled along the floor towards the group, and their legs continued straight ahead. At the same time, the floor started to rumble again, louder this time, as did some of the walls. More mummies broke out of the floor; two came out of the walls; and there were a couple others who crawled out of the treasure heaps around them, jewellery hanging all over them. Joey and the others just shared one glance, and took off running, shooting to keep the mummies taking after them at distance.

It was kind of like dé jà-vu, running through the passages, taking twists and turns with something hell-bent on killing them hot on their heels. Only in this case it was mummies not bugs, which in Joey's humble opinion was much worse. The whole place seemed to crawl with them, too. Joey and the others could take no turn without more mummies coming at them from another direction. At one point, one even broke out of the wall directly next to him, nearly grabbing his arm before he blasted its head off with a shot. And then the Medjay's Lewis gun emptied and he just threw it on the ground. Joey was really sure that this was it now, time to say their final prayers, when they turned around another corner, straight into a room which seemed oddly familiar.

Before him was a small room, with a half-sunken statue with only the head visible from above ground. Only this one was not depicting some strange dog-hyena-like animal; this one was a falcon. "

There he is!" Hearing Yugi's grandfather scream confirmed Joey's wildest hope.

He grinned. "Hello, Horus old boy."

They stopped, catching their breath, with the mummies still clearly in ear shot, just a few turns behind them. Breaking up the statues base for the book with the mummies on their backs would be impossible. At that moment the Medjay stepped forward, drawing a dynamite stick and a match out of his robes. For a moment his eyes seemed to flutter towards Joey.

"Time to close the door."

It took only one strike on the stone wall for the match to light, and then he threw the burning stick into the corridor. The dynamite exploded just as the mummies came around, burying them under a heap of rubble and barricading their way.

Yugi slowly felt his senses returning, blinking slowly. There had been no dreams this time, no merciful fog, and a moment of rest in Atem's presence. He was surprised to find that he had missed that actually. Those talks, short as they had been, had been comforting… It would have been nice. Instead he found himself lying on something, probably the altar Ryou had tried to drag him towards before, with his hands tied over his head with iron manacles, just like his feet. He could wiggle a bit, which proved helpful when a rat jumped on him and he drove it off, but that was it. There was no chance of running away.

He could only watching with building dread as a few of the mummies Zorc had summoned surrounded the altar and knelt, chanting something which he couldn't quite understand. A lack of tongues and jaws and mouths made it awfully difficult for them to clearly pronounce anything resembling words, but Yugi didn't care to understand that much anyway. He did know where this would lead after all, even more when Zorc stepped up towards the altar, the Book of the Dead in hand and a triumphant smile on Atem's vacant face. Yugi started to struggle again, trying to get these chains to break somehow. But they didn't budge, and he had to watch with horror as Zorc placed the key into the lock and slowly turned it.

It hadn't taken Yugi's grandfather long to find the compartment hidden in the statue's base, but opening it up proved to be a whole different kind of challenge, even with all their strengths combined. It was starting to finally crack open when a sound could be heard from another passage leading into the room—the screeching of the mummies and their shuffling movement.

Tristan looked up in disgust. "Damn, these guys don't quit, do they?"

The Medjay stood up, shaking his head. "They are made to follow orders. They won't stop until this order is fulfilled." He stepped away from them, grabbing the elephant gun from Tristan's weapon stash, and walked towards the mummies. "Keep digging."

Shots were ringing out through the room—the mummies screeching and falling to dust, the sounds getting louder— just as the compartment broke open and revealed a simple chest made out of wood and simply decorated. Yugi's grandfather grabbed it, and threw it open, to find a burly sack in. He tore it open, a relieved smile appearing on his face, when he looked at its contents.

"The Book of Amun-Ra."

It was beautiful, Joey had to admit that; a perfect mirror to the Book of the Dead. Where the other book was made out of black stone, this one was carved from pure gold, just like the stories said. Four scarabs rising out of the golden surface kept the bronze locks in place, with circular geometrical lines being carved into its cover; and the same clockwork-like mechanism which kept the Black Book bound together and let it open, was also at work here. Near this mechanism, a cartouche was carved into the stone, containing an ankh sign and long hieroglyphic text, in which Joey could barely make out one or two signs. Next to it was a round upheaval, with an indictment in the now familiar form of the opened key. It bore the Eye of Horus in its middle.

Joey gazed at it, so captivated for a while, that it took him a moment to realise that the sound of gunshots in the background had suddenly ceased.

He turned around, just in time to see how the Medjay lowered the empty gun, looking directly towards the corridor where the mummies started to emerge.

"Save your friend. Kill the creature." For the barest flicker of his eyes wandered over to Joey, flittering shortly to the last dynamite stick lying on the ground, and then back at Joey. While Joey was sure he was imagining it, he could almost believe that those eyes were softening.

"And my name is Seth." With these words he turned back towards the mummies, attacking them with nothing more than the empty gun.

Joey's heart was beating so fast he could barely breathe, as stumbled more than ran, and when he reached the dynamite stick, he fell to his knees, his hands shaking so much he could barely light the match. His thoughts swirled around in his head like they were thrown around by the Dark One's storm.

" _I'd like to know with whom I'm going to die"_

" _You are already giving up?"_

" _My name is Seth."_

Again and again that last sentence, that last word. Seth… He knew exactly what that meant, what the leader…what Seth wanted from them and yet he still looked up one last time, to see him in the middle of those mummies, being surrounded and attacked by all sides, and still fighting.

Maybe Seth had felt his hesitation, maybe he just noticed that the expected explosion wasn't coming, but he threw his head around to glower one last time at Joey over his shoulder. "What are you waiting for?!" The mummies began to overwhelm him, dragging him down the corridor, while two of them bypassed him to shamble towards Joey and the others. He had no choice.

Hasting back towards a small niche in the wall next to the door where Tristan and Mr. Muto were already waiting, Joey threw the dynamite stick straight towards the door, and jumped for cover just as it exploded, destroying the mummies and burying what was left of them and the entrance under a wall of falling stone.

Merely a second later, Tristan dragged him on his feet. "Everything alright?" His friends face was so full of sympathy, Joey could hardly bear to look at him, and he hardly even knew why. His mind was a mess of thoughts and feeling stumbling over each other. He looked at the burning remains of the mummies and the blockading wall. Seth was back there too, glaring at him, practically ordering him to do what he had to do.

He shrugged. "Think so." It wasn't really true, but it was the best he had to offer at the moment. Tristan looked at him, clearly not believing a word, and even Mr. Muto looked like he wanted to comfort Joey, but really, they didn't have time for this. So Joey shook his head, and nodded towards a hole in the wall, the only way out of the chamber still open to them.

"I'm ok, don't worry. Let's go, there's a party we still have to crash." Grabbing the Book of Amun-Ra, he dove through hole, hearing the other two follow behind. He couldn't afford to look back, not now.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Zorc was still reading from the book, his voice—Atem's voice—booming over the chorus of his undead servants. A new noise, something blubbering, caught Yugi's attention, and he turned his head to look for it. In the middle of the ritual room there was a basin filled with some kind of dark substance, which Yugi had ignored till now, thinking it to be some kind of tar, maybe to be set aflame for certain rituals. To his horror, he now watched the liquid moving, slowly rising up and down in accordance to the intonation of whatever spell Zorc was using, till it final rose out of the basin like a snow geyser and drifted and whirled through the air, towards the altar.

It didn't look quite so liquefied now, more like a grey and violet mixture between smoke and liquid, and Yugi shuffled aside, trying to get as far away from the thing as possible. Given his manacles, he couldn't move much. The smoke-liquid drifted over the altar and over Yugi's body. It felt like he was suddenly plunged into a block of ice, the already frigid temperature around Zorc now getting closer to Arctic levels. And then it was gone, and surrounded Zorc like a second skin, dancing across Atems body. He was still chanting, his voice raising louder and louder, only to suddenly stop.

Yugi turned his head towards him, scarcely daring to breath. The smoke-like liquid had now passed beneath Atem's skin, seemingly dancing and swirling under it, which made looking at his skin akin to watching fish under the surface of water. That alone was unsettling, but Yugi became distracted fast by the dagger which Zorc now held in two hands, stepping closer towards him. He raised the dagger over his head, pointing straight towards Yugi's heart.

"Through your death I'll become myself again, undefeatable. And the world will finally be mine." He spoke slowly, softly, almost like a caress of words, which just made it worse.

Yugi screamed, just as the dagger started to plunge towards him—

Only to be interrupted by another scream.

"We've got it! Yugi we've got it!"

Zorc stopped in the middle of his movement. He and Yugi turned their heads at the same time to look at Joey, standing at the top of the stairs and holding a golden book with both hands over his head, almost jumping up and down in triumph. Then he caught Zorc's eye, looking straight at him and giving him his full attention for once, and gulped.

Joey lowered the book, a suddenly look of panic in his eyes.

"The book of Amun-Ra." Zorc's voice was barely a whisper, but it was enough to confirm to Yugi that Joey was right. They had gotten the right book. And Zorc lowered the dagger, laying it down next to Yugi almost carelessly, clearly forgetting that he even had it. His whole attention was on Joey and the book. But neither of those things were priorities for Yugi right now.

"Great!" He turned his head towards Joey. "Wonderful! Now shut up and get me out of here!" He might have been more aggressive and hysterical than he would have otherwise been with his friend, but his nerves were stretched thin at the moment. Also, Joey had the book, so if Yugi couldn't move right now, he could at least tell him what to do. Especially since Zorc was already stepping around the altar to move in Joey's direction.

"Open the book, Joey! It's the only way to kill him!" He could see Joey shaking his head even as he spoke. "You need to open the book and read the inscription." They was a whole room between them, and Yugi still could see Joey glaring at him.

"Brilliant idea, I didn't think of that. How the hell I'm supposed to open it without a key, genius?!"

While Yugi and Joey were busy screaming at each other, and thus nicely drew the attention of everyone in the room towards them, Tristan crept towards a statue in the background, depicting a warrior with his sword raised over his head. The statue may have been made out of stone, but the sword, a typical khopesh, was real and made out of bronze. Miraculously, it was still usable after all these years. Mr. Muto had already grabbed a sword of his own, and, with a short nod, he and Tristan both crept forward towards the altar. Nobody noticed Ryou, who, slinking along the walls, disappeared into a dark corridor.

Yugi tried to look up as well as he could, pointing awkwardly with his head towards Zorc, who was now striding fast towards Joey, looking quite angry. "He wears it under his clothes!"

Joey had nearly rolled his eyes. Great, that was just so fucking great. Of course the creepy mummy lord would wear the key close to him. Couldn't at least one thing be easy for once? Seeing the mummy lord walk towards him, and his underling mummies still kneeling and glaring at him, Joey took the best option he head. He turned tail and ran down the corridor again.

Which was the cue for Tristan and Yugi's grandfather. While Tristan jumped, screaming straight into the mummies and circling round the altar, sword pointed towards them to keep them away, Yugi's grandfather ran towards the altar, and with one hack of the sword, the chains holding one of Yugi's hands broke free.

"Grandfather!" Yugi had just time to share a relieved smile with the old man, before Zorc, still standing on the stairs turned around, and spoke.

" _Ip-iut set na."_ His voice was completely calm, and the mummies still kneeling rose and attacked them from all sides.

Tristan cut one down, turning around to punch another, stabbing his sword through the next. Next to him he could see Yugi's grandfather fighting too, mummy dust flying up all around them, making it hard to breathe and see. They mummies went down easy enough, but they also got up again, and the more they took down, the more seemed to attack them.

On the altar, Yugi was turning around now, desperately trying to break free from the last manacle holding him. Damn it, those things were millennium's old, they should have fallen apart at the slightest touch! A mummy jumped on the altar next to him, just to be cut down by his grandfather, while Tristan beheaded another one. It tried to hold onto its head juggling it like a hot potato, before Tristan swung his sword like a tennis racket to turn the head into dust and cut the mummy down again.

He turned towards Yugi, an exhausted grin on his face. "Mummies. I've really had it with them."

Yugi had never heard him say any word with more loathing, just close to how Tristan usually spoke when Joey's old gang leader came up during conversation, which really didn't happen often. It probably bode well for Joey, Yugi was almost tempted to ask Tristan if that meant he would leave the mummies at the museum alone, when Tristan, stepping up to cut his manacle and already rising the sword over his head, suddenly got dragged backwards.

The upper torso of a mummy he had cut down earlier was clearly still alive, dragging itself towards Tristan and holding onto his legs. Tristan tried to kick it off while reach for his sword, which had landed just out of his reach. He nearly got it when another half-torso grabbed him from behind, trying to strangle him. From far away he could hear Yugi screaming, telling him that there was another mummy, and Tristan nearly rolled his eyes. He didn't have any breath left to tell Yugi that thanks, he had noticed that, before his eyes wandered upwards and he realised that Yugi hadn't meant the mummy which had grabbed him from behind, but the one now marching towards him, a heavy-looking stone held in its hands, ready to drop it onto his head.

He grabbed for his sword again, more desperately this time, but the damn thing didn't come any closer.

Ryou was running through the corridors, an irritated look on his face. Those little pests… Their tries to hinder his plans had been amusing before, but now they were far past irritating. Not to mention dangerous. He didn't often worry about them actually being able to open the book and find the spell they would need; that blond idiot didn't look like he knew how to read under even the best circumstances, and he was halfway out of his mind with fear. And that they would get the key was even less possible. But still, he also hadn't expected them to even know that this spell existed… Nobody alive could know, and the boy couldn't have regained his memories….but he had known how to drag the pharaoh to the surface…

No, he wouldn't take any risks. Before they had any chance of getting the key, he would bury them all in the sand.

He slowed down, coming to a halt in a corridor very different from the others, Instead of being from the mountain itself, the walls were cased with black granite, richly carved with hieroglyphs and reliefs. Niches lined the walls in regular intervals, with statues of guarding gods and warriors placed in them. Between two of them an ornate staff, decorated with the head of Seth stuck out of the wall.

Ryou stopped in front of it, and, with a cruel smile, pressed the staff down.

It took a while to get it moving, age and disuse collecting their price, but once he had passed the first resistance it glided down like it had been installed only yesterday. With a click it latched in place, and all around Ryou the walls began to tremble. Laughing Ryou threw his head back, and turned around to walk back towards the ritual room. Let's see how they liked that little trick. He could survive being buried under stone and sand, trapped in suffocating darkness…

But humans were so fragile.

The mummy had nearly reached him now, and no matter how much Tristan stretched and fought to throw the other two holding him off, the sword remained stubbornly out of reach and the mummies held on. Stubborn bastards. Out of the corner of his eye, Tristan saw something move, and really, wasn't that just excessive now, he already had three mummies to deal with, a fourth was unnecessary. Then he noticed that it was not a full mummy, only a mummy's hand, hacked off in the fight and inching closer and closer towards the sword, and an idea formed in his head…

If that could work…

The hand stopped, testing its way forward, which admittedly was a bit difficult without eyes. Tristan stretched his hand out again, just as the mummy with the stela stepped up to him, rising the stone slab over its head. In the distance he could hear Yugi screaming his name, mingled with the gloating laugh of the stela mummy, and the moving hand was so close, it was only inches now…

Then it happened: the hand grasped the hilt of the sword, Tristan's hand flew forward to grasp the hand, and in one fluid movement he twisted around, raising hand and sword to cut off the mummy's knees right as it was about to drop the stela.

The mummies face twisted in surprise, and it could only let out a pitiful scream as it toppled over backwards. It fell on its back, buried under the same stela it wanted to crush Tristan's head with, arms still clutching the stone and chopped off legs raised in the air like a beetle thrown on its back. Sadly Tristan had no time to admire the look, because the other two mummies still holding him down demanded his attention rather insistently.

Joey had found a passage looping back towards the ritual room, stepping out behind the statue of Amun-Ra which he decided to take as a good omen. After all, he had spent the time his little detour earned him to try and make sense of the hieroglyphs on the cover of the Golden Book. He wasn't as natural as Yugi when it came to hieroglyphs, and he did struggle a lot, even with the resources back in Cairo at the museum, but slowly those damned comics started to make sense.

"Ok, here's the inscription." Narrowing his eyes in concentration he started to read. "Rashim… Rashimono… Rashimonkashka!" The last word he cried out with a triumphant smile, the knot in his head finally loosening, only for his smile to fade when some less than calming noises rang out from a door near him.

Yugi's grandfather had finally managed to turn enough mummies into dust that he could cut Yugi's last manacle relatively uninterrupted. He helped Yugi down from the altar, closing rank with Tristan just as some unsettling clanks could be heard, coming from deep within the city, and echoing from every corner in the room. At the same time, the walls of the chamber began to shake, and opposite from them two door wings flew open, revealing more mummies. Only those were a different kind from what they had faced before.

Row after row of soldiers marched in, walking in pairs, with each of them holding a shield in front of them with one hand and a spear at their side in the others. There was discipline to their movements, which—even when most of their flesh and clothes had been rotting off and the rest dried up—made them look both military-trained and scarily-competent.

They turned sharply right, thus luckily missing Joey standing left of them and looking at them with his mouth hanging open.

"Oh dear god." It was a whimper really, not a statement, and seeing Zorc still standing on the stair overlooking everything and smiling at the newcomers sadly proved Joey's suspicion that they really were screwed now.

The soldiers stopped in one straight line, turning left to face Yugi, Tristan and Solomon, swords raised in attack position.

A grin appeared on Tristan's face, but it did look more done for than happy. "Oh great, that's how I like it. This just keeps getting better and better." Raising his own weapon he stepped backwards, clearly having left behind the point where anything could faze him at least ten mummies ago. He really didn't care anymore.

They all drew backwards, Yugi's eyes flittering through the room. "Joey?" He was talking through his teeth right now. "If you could do something right now, that would be really appreciated."

Joey looked at him like Yugi had just grown two heads. "Who me? What the hell am I supposed to do?" What did Yugi want, for him to throw himself between his friends and the mummies? He didn't even have a weapon, contrary to both Yugi's grandfather and Tristan.

Yugi's eyes remained fixed on the mummies. He and the others were still withdrawing backwards, while the room surrounding them now started to tremble dangerously, as if it was going to crash down on them at any second. "You…could give them orders?"

Now Joey really was sure that Yugi had lost it. That last kidnapping had been too much. It was bound to happen really, after all which had taken place. "Me, ordering mummies around? Yugi, now's not the moment for jokes!" Like, Yugi couldn't have picked a worse candidate for that if he had tried. He was lucky Joey was still standing, shaking as hard as he was. Facing them, watching them, took every ounce of courage he could muster and Yugi wanted him to _talk_ to them? Not like they would listen either. He was stumbling backwards too, his back hitting a column behind him and cutting him off from even that illusion of getting to safety.

Joey could see an encouraging smile on Yugi's lips, even though his eyes were full of panic. "You need to finish the inscription. Those guys are bound to follow you then." He smiled again. "I know you can do it, but if you could be a bit faster…?"

Joey mouth opened. He looked down at the book, back up at his friends who were still trapped between the mummy warriors on one side and Zorc on the other, and back towards the book. "You…you're right." He nodded, and dove around the column, eyes focused on the book. He was shaking like a leave in the wind, the book nearly falling out of his hands, and his stomach was a knot of fear and worry, insisting that this was a stupid idea that would never work. Those were mummies; he couldn't even focus…but he had to. This had to work, him getting this inscription right and this crazy plan working were literally his friends last hope.

The warriors stepped closer to Yugi and the others, at much the same pace they withdrew. They had now crossed the altar platform—it and the creepy fog-lake Zorc had raised between them and their pursuers. Yugi's gaze remained fixated on the warriors, trying to the think about the trembling walls and what he was starting to suspect they could mean. One possible way of dying at a time.

He took back another step, only to scream when suddenly something grabbed him by the shoulder and tore him back. Something sharp flew through the air, and Yugi jumped back just in time to see the dagger Zorc had tried to kill him with crossing past mere inches from his face. Ryou stood before him, dagger in hand, and a mad and dangerous look on his face. He didn't seem to be in any mood to talk, just kept attacking, swinging the dagger madly to and fro, trying to hit Yugi. The golden ring dangled in front of his chest with every movement. Yugi had enough sense in him to try and keep moving, and hopefully stay out of his range.

Solomon was about to run, to try and help his grandson, when Zorc's voice rang out, giving the order to attack. The mummy warriors moved as one, three of them just jumping over the basin in the middle of the room, and using another jump to stand on top of the altar facing him and Tristan.

Tristan grabbed his sword with both hands, raising it above his head defiantly, and screamed at them, mouth wide. The warriors leaned a bit forward, and, unhinging their jaws, screamed back. It was a lot more impressive than Tristan's try at intimidation. Tristan just looked at them, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open, before he shook his head in an abrupt gesture.

"Uh-uh." With that he turned around and ran, the three mummy warriors taking after him, which meant that Solomon only had the other four left to deal with.

Tristan just ran, jumping over a stream of water littered with skeletons running through the room. He had no idea where that thing suddenly came from, or why you would need a river full of skeletons in your ritual room, but at least the skeletons made good jumping stones.

Yugi was running, throwing back a look now and then to keep track of Ryou. The boy was still running for him, nothing human left in his face. He was growling now, eyes fixed on Yugi and grasping the dagger as if it was the most important thing in the world. Around them, the first statues had started to fall, with the floor shaking to and cracks running up and down the columns.

"Joey! Hurry up!"

Tristan had managed to hold onto a piece of rope hanging from the ceiling, cutting the weight holding it down with his sword. It propelled him upwards, away from the two mummy warriors now behind him, and had the nice bonus effect of crashing down the cage the rope had held up, directly onto another mummy warrior standing beneath it. He landed onto a small platform, and turned around to run through a hole in the wall. Screeching could be heard, and seconds later Tristan ran out of the hole again, pursued by another horde of mummy warriors.

He ran back to the stairs of the room, realising, thanks to some movement out of the corner of his eye, that those damn guys weren't content to use the stairs and no, they had to run along the walls on all fours, which meant they were now drawing in around him from all sides like the world's creepiest spider gang! He stopped at the end of the stairs, only to realise that there was nothing behind him anymore. Turning around slowly, with a very bad feeling in his stomach, he came face to face with three mummy warriors and a fourth just springing into line from the damned ceiling. Jumping back in shock he raised his sword, and managed just barely to fight of the first one's attack.

Joey was still stumbling around between statues and columns, trying not to get hit by falling stones and staying out of the main trouble. "Yugi?!" He raised his head to look around, and not seeing his friend, screamed a bit louder. "I can't read the last symbol!" He had made out everything else, but this hieroglyph was a complete loss. And he was sure he knew it too, he had seen that fucking thing before. But his mind just drew a complete blank.

Yugi ran around another statue, now slightly out of breath, and definitely more than a bit panicking. "What does it look like?!" If the mummies weren't going to kill them, the city sinking and crashing down around them might just finish the job. And either way Zorc would have won.

A hand shot out on front of him, and before he knew what had happened, Ryou stood above him grinning, raising the dagger in one hand towards Yugi, and strangling him with the other.

Yugi's grandfather and Tristan had now reach each other again. Standing back to back, they fought down the mummy warriors coming at them, but it was barely enough to keep them at a slight distance.

Joey squinted down at the symbol. "It's a ..uhm…" His elbow holding the book was moving instinctively, making flapping movements. "A bird… a stork!" Yugi would have torn his head off if he had come up with nothing better than a bird. There were at least a dozen different bird hieroglyphs, and they all meant something different.

Stones were falling down from the ceiling, nearly missing Tristan and Solomon. The old man jumped aside in time, but he didn't quite get the landing and collapsed, his foot bending under him accompanied by an ill-sounding crack. With a burning sharp pain racing up his leg, he crumbled to the floor. Tristan stumbled over the stone which had come down behind him, and falling backward he lost his sword and could just in time grab one of the torches lighting up the room. It proved to be quite an effective weapon, as the mummy warrior went up like tinder when Tristan stabbed at him with the torch.

Ryou drove Yugi back into the wall. His hand closed around Yugi's throat like iron, and Yugi could barely breathe. Black dots danced before his eyes; with one hand he was struggling to loosen Ryou's grip, and it was all he could do to hold Ryou's hand with the dagger away from him. Still he tried to form the word Joey asked about.

"Am..." Damn, he could barely hear himself. "Am… Amenophus!"

Ryou twisted him a bit sideward and Yugi screamed.

Joey looked down onto the inscription, and smiled. "Oh, of course!" Really, it was obvious now that Yugi said it. He looked up again, just in time to see Tristan being thrown down the stairs after fighting two mummies. The sword he had held onto for so long fell out of his hands, and before he could make a grab for it, three other mummy warriors appeared before him, their spears raised for attack. He could do nothing, had no chance of rising in time, when the weapons came down on him; just like Yugi's grandfather, lying only a few steps away from Tristan, who had managed to held off some attackers with his weapon without rising, but form whose heart another weapon was aiming now. In a second, both of them would be gone.

Joey took a deep breath. _"Hut tashem Amenophus!"_ The words blurred together as he threw them out so fast, and he could only hope that that would not render them unworkable for the magic; or that he actually got the words right, that he hadn't made a mistake somewhere, because there were no second chances now. If he had gotten it wrong, all his friends would be dead. Oh, and there was a very annoyed looking Dark One strolling towards him, so he wouldn't live long enough to try for a second time even if his friends weren't in danger.

The spears over Tristan and Solomon came down, only to stop suddenly, mere inches from Solomon's chest and in Tristan's case, just when the first tips dug themselves inside his cheeks. The annoyance in Zorc's face disappeared. Joey caught an oh-so-rewarding look of pure shock on his face when he turned around to stare at the scene in front of him open mouthed.

For one endless moment nobody in the room moved; even the mummies seemed to hold their breath, even though they weren't even breathing. Everything seemed to be frozen, with Tristan slowly and carefully opening one eye to blink up alongside the spears pinching his face, to the mummies standing frozen over him. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the mummy warriors straightened themselves, raising their weapons away from their victims, and turned left to face Joey in what he hoped was gesture of respect and obedience with their weapons raised in front of their faces.

Zorc was beside himself with anger, screeching the same order from the beginning of the fight over and over again at the mummies. He might as well have screamed at a rock, for the mummies moved just as much.

Tristan slowly scrambled towards his feet, offering a hand to Yugi's grandfather and helping him to get out of the danger zone. And Joey, still not quite willing to believe that this should be happening, that he of all people ended up commanding the mummies, decided to screw this all and use the opportunity as long as he still could. There was another figure to take out after all, and he had been waiting for the chance.

Zorc was still screaming at the mummy warriors, clearly not used to his plans going southwards, while Yugi got thrown against a statue, Ryou's being about to plunge the dagger right into him. The words were out of Joey's mouth before he could ever realise he said them, not in English but in an Egyptian so fluent only Yugi usually could produce that.

" _Tear off the ring. Destroy it."_

There was no hesitation in his voice, no doubt towards the right course of action. Yugi's grandfather had said that Ryou had started to go full Zorc when he took on the Ring, so taking it out of the game should restore him, save Yugi, and bring down the number of dangerous beings of darkness trying to destroy the world in this room down to one.

The mummy warriors reacted instantaneously. They turned around and marched towards Ryou, who, realising the danger he was in, abandoned his quest to kill Yugi and tried to flee. He stood no chance, as Zorc's scream of "Noooo!" full of anger and hate proved. Unfortunately the walking mummy king found a different way of saving his marionette, turning around to face Joey, eyes blazing, hissing something which Joey didn't really care to understand. He gulped, stumbled back a few steps, and realised, way belatedly, that he was out of ways to flee. Letting the book fall from his hands, he walked backwards straight into a corner, eyes fearfully locked on Zorc.

At the same time, Ryou screamed, and Zorc did the same. Their voices mingled as one. Zorc flew around, and over his shoulder Joey could see four mummy warriors holding Ryou down, while a fifth grabbed the golden ring and tore it from Ryou's neck. The effect was instantaneous. The boy collapsed in the mummies' hands like puppet whose strings got cut. At the same time, Zorc toppled over as if something had hit him. The mummy warrior turned around, and with one smooth movement threw the ring into the basin in the middle of the room. Zorc's howling, an inhuman sound full of fury and pain, filled the room.

But he regained his composure quickly. Eyes burning with rage, he turned around and, grabbing Joey by the neck, lifted him off the ground. Joey couldn't understand a word he was saying to him now, but the message was still perfectly clear. It was a promise in his eyes, carried in every tone of his voice.

 _Now you die._

But even as the air got short, Joey saw something through the black dots in front of his face, and with Zorc being distracted, and using the last of his strength he lifted his hand to perform a trick learned in his childhood, on the streets of Cairo, one which he hadn't used in years. He lifted the key out of Zorc's pocket, just as the darkness threatened to overwhelm him.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

A scream tore through the air, one unlike Zorc's, followed by cutting sound and suddenly Joey could breathe again. Air and colour returned to him. He fell down, turning around on the sand to see Zorc's cut off arm falling from his shoulder, and Tristan, sword raised standing in front of Zorc, with a look on his face that clearly spoke of him just now realising in how much trouble he had manoeuvred himself. Joey shuffled away, trying to get as much distance between the arm and himself as possible, while Zorc turned around, looking at the stump remaining of his arm and then back at Tristan. Tristan had barely time to return that look, before the mummy king grabbed him with the other arm and threw him halfway across the room, only to follow him, while twisting his arm to fixate it again, just as Tristan tried to scramble on his feet again.

Joey stood up, grabbed the book with one hand, and with the other he raised the key triumphantly towards Yugi and his grandfather. "Yugi! I got him!" That bastard was going down now.

A smile lit up Yugi whole face, and he hurried towards Joey, his grandfather limping a bit slower behind. Around them, the ceiling was now collapsing in earnest—they had to dodge falling stones all the way—and the chamber walls were collapsing too. Only Zorc seemed to have no attention left for anything going on around him anymore, for he was focused on nothing but the one who had taken his kill from him. Grabbing Tristan by the shoulders, he lifted him up, just as Yugi reached Joey and the Book. He threw his head back to scream in Tristan's direction.

"I just need a moment!" He turned his head back to unlock the Book, just missing Tristan being thrown through the room again. He banged into a statue, hitting the floor with a loud thud. For a moment Tristan lay there, eyes closed.

"Oh, no problem. Take your time." He raised his head, to see Zorc marching towards him again. Guy must really love playing fetch with humans by the look of things.

Yugi hastily tore open the Book, turning the pages as fast as he could, his grandfather finally reaching them. Zorc punched Tristan once more, making him fly through the air and over the altar, before he collapsed upon the stone floor in front of the stairs. Yugi's fingers danced over the pages, Joey holding the book for him. His head twitched more and more, panicking about Tristan and the collapsing city around them.

"Yugi, hurry up!"

Yugi didn't even look up, his voice barely more than that annoying sing-sang tone again. "Why don't you help me, it would be faster?"

Zorc lifted Tristan up by the throat, obviously tired of his little game. He bowed forward to say something to him, but Tristan could barely hear what he said, let alone try and translate the words. It didn't matter anyway; he had a very good idea what this guy was about now. Especially as he unhinged his jaw again, getting ready for one nightmare attack or another, and Tristan, sight growing blurry, had just enough time to think that this was just how he wanted to die when Yugi's voice rang out triumphantly.

"I got it!"

Yugi straightened, looking up from the book, and glared at Zork. This nightmare would end now.

" _Kardish mal. Kardish mal. Pared oos. Pared oos."_ A triumphant smile appeared on his lips as the room around them suddenly lit with a fury of wind, torches blazing high, and Zorc turned towards him, a look of pure fear on his face.

The fog-water in the basin next to him began to bubble and shift, the torches flickering even more as wind whirled through the room, rising up to the ceiling and suddenly the neighing of horses could be heard. A chariot, made of silvery light and pulled by two horses of the same substance, broke through the entrance on top of the stairs. It was too fast for Yugi to see the driver, but for a moment he thought he could see a falcon head as the chariot drove through Zorc, who toppled over as if in agony, and then disappeared through the other wall. The flickering stopped, just like the wind, and for a moment the whole room was silent. Yugi held his breath, eyes focused on Zorc—Atem's body, whatever it was at the moment—who still stood in the middle of the room, bent over and unmoving.

Then the mummy's head snapped up. His body straightened, and with one swift grab he lifted up the sword Tristan had just dropped.

"Shit!" Joey stumbled a step back, eyes wide, flicking between the book in his hand, Yugi, and the mummy standing in the middle of the room. "I thought you said it was going to kill him!"

Yugi couldn't answer. He just looked as the mummy turned around, head tilted sideways, red eyes calm and happy, and a small smile on his lips directed only at him. His voice was low, and oddly tight as he spoke, realising what was about to happen.

 _I can take care of the rest_ …

"He is mortal." He watched as Atem raised the sword, and plunged it straight into his own heart.

He reeled back two steps, directly into the basin, and Yugi could only watch as the fog-like water—now actually forming faces, like lost souls grasping at their prey—rose up around him and swallowed him. Tears blurred his vision, even as Atem looked up one last time, eyes gentle and comforting, and his own smile widened just a bit as he spoke. Yugi took a step forward, and with a last smile, Atem let the souls drag him under. That was the last thing Yugi saw of him: that smile, the red eyes completely at peace, even as only the dark, endless surface of the basin remained.

"Death is only the beginning." He repeated Atem's last words almost automatically, knowing that what Atem did had been the only way and still not grasping just why it felt like losing him all over again. He had barely known him!

He also didn't have time to figure that out, because at the next moment half the ceiling, already losing stones and shaking, finally gave in and crashed down. Yugi's head flew up, startled, and by the reactions of Tristan, Joey and his grandfather, it was obvious they too had forgotten for a moment that the chamber was well onto its way to collapsing.

"We need to get out of here! Time to go!" His grandfather gestured for them to follow him, which they had no objections to. Tristan and Yugi grabbed Ryou who still lay unconscious on the floor, but who grunted a bit as they picked him up, while Joey followed after with the Book of Amun-Ra.

The whole room was shaking now, ceiling pieces and statues fell down left and right, and the floor under them seemed to give out every step of the way. They had to doge multiple possibly deadly stone falls, and at one point Joey stumbled over a new chasm opening up directly ahead of him. He made the jump, but the Book of Amun-Ra glided out of his hand, directly into the dark waters surround the centre of the room.

Yugi heard the splash, turning his head around. "The book! You dropped the book!" Really? After everything they went through to get it, Joey couldn't just drop it!

Joey just looked at him, as he gestured for him to continue. "Not important right now! Keep moving!" He was right, Yugi knew, but still he couldn't help but throw a rueful glance backwards. It was the Book of Amun-Ra after all…

"Couldn't we just…?" He didn't even get to finish his question as three separate voice interrupted him.

"No!" Tristan practically dragged him out, using Ryou between them as a leverage.

All around them the city descended into utter chaos. Not a single passage was untouched by the destruction. Whole corridors were blocked off by new stones, or falling apart just as they passed through. Yugi was beginning to fear that, after all they had survived, after putting Zorc finally down, they were going to die here, killed by the city of the dead itself. It had an almost ironic symbolism to it—Zorc dragging the city and the ones who trapped him again down to his personal prison, but damn it, Yugi didn't want to give him that last laugh.

Just as he really started to think that this was the end, his grandfather shouted something back about there being light ahead, and seconds later Yugi saw it too. He and his friends sped up one last time, and they managed to squeeze themselves out of a hole in the city walls, just seconds before the whole wall broke down behind them. They managed to run for a few meters more, afraid of stopping, before they collapsed into the sand.

With Yugi's grandfather standing behind them, and Ryou lying between them, they watched as the great city broke down onto itself, tearing itself apart and sinking into the stone. Nobody would enter Hamunaptra ever again; nobody would ever get the chance of waking Zorc, not with both the Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra buried in its ruins. In all the sand and destruction, Yugi thought, just for a moment, that he could make out Atem's face, smiling again. He would also have his final rest here, though it would be anything but peaceful. And yet he had been content with that, choosing the fate of trapping Zorc again without hesitation. Yugi's throat tightened up, and he had to blink rapidly because his eyes began to burn. And Atem hadn't been the only one sacrificed in Zorc's mad quest for power and destruction, through all the others had been forced to face their fate alone and in fear, senseless deaths in the end. He would probably never stop to remember the Americans and the fact that they could have still been alive if he hadn't read from the book would forever haunt him. And that wasn't even going into what had happened in Cairo, and what damage the events of last night had caused there. The fire from the sky alone must have killed more people than he cared to think about, and with Zorc's mob walking the streets… He wasn't sure what they would find there when they went back.

Next to him, Joey looked over the city too. He still had trouble believing that they were still alive, that this nightmare had actually passed. And yet it had, and the price had been way too high. Keith, Zygor, Sid, Bonz…and Seth of course. He still saw the Medjay turning around, facing off a whole horde of mummies with just an empty gun, shouting at them to move on and the save the day. Admittedly, the guy had been an asshole most of the time, but Joey may have actually come to respect him—and fuck that, he didn't deserve a death like that.

He let his eyes wander one last time over the sunken city, while the sand and the dust began to settle, destroying any evidence that the city of the dead had every stood there, and closed his eyes in one last gesture of respect for Seth. Only to nearly jump out of his skin when a hand suddenly laid itself on his shoulder.

He screamed, startling the others out of their remembrance, and flew around, sure that this was one more mummy, one more warrior they had somehow forgotten, or who had followed them out of the city, that was now trying to kill them, starting with him because he had dared to command them… Only to find himself face to face with the unimpressed, gnarled face of a camel and a very alive Seth sitting on said camel's back, looking down at him with one raised eyebrow.

Joey glared up at him. "What the hell was that?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack or what? You can't just creep up to people like that! And why are you even still alive?!" Angrily he gestured at Seth and the camel, while Seth just looked less and less impressed with his act. Next to him, a group of camels caught up to them, and really, Duke sitting on one of them and looking way too amused at the whole exchange was the last thing Joey needed.

"Any reason he should not be alive? He was big help rounding up the camels roaming around here, and I would hate to find out I got help from some kind of zombie." Duke leaned forward to pat his camel's head, while Seth shot him an annoyed look, before he turned back to fixate Joey with an unreadable look

Behind him, Joey could hear some snickering which surely came from Tristan, and the cough which suddenly struck Yugi also sounded suspiciously amusing. He turned around to glare at his friends because this was not funny, he could have died of shock, thank you very much, only to find Mr. Muto smiling at him too. There was no justice in the world, none at all.

Joey was still looking disappointedly at his friends when Seth cleared his throat and began to speak, clearly intend on pretending that this exchange now had ever happened. "You managed to seal the creature again." There was slight recognition, maybe even a hint of respect in those words, but they would have sounded far better if Seth didn't look like he had a hard time believing he was actually saying that. What had happened to ordering them to do exactly that? If he had so little faith, he shouldn't have sacrificed himself. "You've earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people." Yeah, he was still not looking all that impressed, more like he had bitten into a lemon to be honest, but when he finished the corner of his mouth actually turned upwards, so Joey was going to take the words as honest and heartfelt.

So he grinned up at him. "Oh please, that was nothing. Just don't ask us to do that again."

Now he was sure he saw Seth's mouth twitch a bit more. But that bastard was still too stubborn to smile, and steadily looked ahead, refusing now to even glance in Joey's direction. "May Allah smile upon you always." He raised his hand in blessing, and fuck it, Joey was sure he actually meant it this time.

So he awkwardly raised his hand to returned the gesture, while Yugi nodded. "Thank you." A court nod was his answer, before Seth threw around one last glance at them all.

"And stay out of trouble." With that he grabbed the rains of his camel, and turned around to disappear into the desert.

Joey looked at him, open mouthed and a bit offended. "He's just…leaving us here."

Tristan shrugged. "What did you expect, for him to escort us home? Guy has more important things to do than that." He turned his head and grinned at Joey. "But you would have liked that, I guess?"

Yugi turned around, nearly suffocating trying to hold back his laughter, while Joey gapped at Tristan, mouth hanging open.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" There was a slight flush covering his face, which only made Tristan grin wider.

They were still arguing when they climbed onto their camels, Duke right next to Tristan and awfully close, while he interrupted the conversation with a few comments of his own, which managed to fluster both combatants. Yugi's grandfather rode next to him, carrying a still unconscious Ryou, who was slowly stirring awak, in front of him. The old man looked exhausted, but despite the marks of the battle and the wild flight through the city still visible on him, a small smile lay on his face. He glanced over to Yugi, who returned his smile with a bright one of his own.

Yes, the last few days had left their marks. Yes, he was probably always going to feel guilty about what happened, and he had no idea what chaos would await them in Cairo. Together with the necessary clean-up and the regret which he left behind him in Hamunaptra, he would always be chasing his guilty footsteps. But still, right here and now, riding under the burning desert sun, listening to his friends arguing, watching Joey present the small treasure he had managed to nick from the city, with his grandfather at his side, and the rest of his friends ahead in Cairo, he could believe that everything would be ok. Maybe not tomorrow, or next week. But soon. The rest of their lives were ahead of them. After walking through chaos, fear and the threat of certain death, and he was curious to see what their futures would hold, eager to find the next mystery to chase after.

He smiled again, driving his camel to go a little bit faster, the sand flying up around him, his friends and his grandfather catching up with him—and for one moment they were alive, flying, riding over the Egyptian desert with nothing but the sky and the sun above them, and almost immortal while everything seemed possible.


End file.
